Day 3 of the India Couture Week brought rich collections from the atelier of designers, Reynu Taandon, Rimple and Harpreet Narula, Rahul Mishra and Anamika Khanna. Read on to know what ruled the ramp…
The first show by Reynu Taandon opened to the loud beats of Indian drums, popularly known as the Nagadas that marks the announcement of good news and are played at most Northern Indian weddings. The collection inspired by the rich colourful heritage of Rajasthan had opening sequence in Bronze and gold, three-fourth sleeved shirts, long Kurtis and short cholis were teamed with 180 degree flared style Rajasthani lehengas in combinations of beige- red, bronze-gold and pure reds.
What stood different was the Rajasthani Kalbeliya culture inspired combinations of bright red, black and orange with golden and silver gota work in short cholis with lehengas and gents style peplum kurtis with salwars. Her play with thread embroidery and sequences in satin were graceful indeed.
The drum beats played throughout as the background score with a grand culmination by showstopper Divya Khosla Kumar, the famous Bollywood Director.
The second show was by Rimple and Harpreet Narula who opened the showcase with white and gold lehengas in fine dabka-zardozi embroidery. Their collection, a royal extravaganza, had inspiration drawn from the rich colourful design heritage from Rajasthan, Punjab, Kashmir and Mughal culture, with work ranging from thread embroidery to sequences in sizes big and small. The colour tones were largely reds with certain pieces that stood out in Blue, white and beige.
The showstopper was the gorgeous Yami Gautam who truly got a make-over from the label, the way they dolled her up in a stunning lehenga with Turkish architectural tombs embroidered in gold as huge borders teamed with golden blouse and net dupatta. I liked the explicit range for men that the duo had created.
The third show by designer Rahul Mishra really stood out for two reasons. One, it was a fine couture collection for the cold season, explicitly announced by the setup designed with white paper flowers artistically spread around the ramp and on the backdrop walls. And two, the collection was unlike others and gorgeously crafted in thread work.
There are very few designers in India who create couture collections befitting the winters when, ironically most weddings happen in the chilly months of December and January! Full sleeved shirts with lehengas adorned with fine white thread embroidery on a combination of blue and white were strikingly beautiful. The collection had whites with soft pastel coloured thread embroidery of flowers and leaves on lehengas, sarees with peplum tops and long gowns. A contrast opposite was the black collection with soft Kashmiri thread embroidery in red, white and green. The last set in white truly was a fitting closing collection with white thread embroidery on whites. Flowy Dupattas with cut works, peplum tops, sarees and lehengas, the entire collection in complete hand work was simply magnificent.
The only thing, he calls it Monsoon Diaries! The collection as he says is inspired by German Biologist Ernst Haeckel who has compiled two volumes of Kunstformen der Natur, known in English as Art Forms in Nature consisting of 100 prints of various organisms, many of which were first described by Haeckel himself, around the start of the year 1900.
Overall, quite a day, quite many shows!
India Couture Week 2016 Day 1 | India Couture Week 2016 Day 2 | India Couture Week 2016 Day 4 & 5
