Dolly J’s Midas Touch

Body positivity, 3D motifs and inventing a new fabric, which rustles like paper but is organza, made Dolly J’s ICW 2024 show, feel like a bouquet of roses.

By Asmita Aggarwal

Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha’s wife Poonam, came to support her newly married daughter Sonakshi, in a woven sari. The set was a set brimming with roses —arches lined like a maze. “Body positivity has always been important for me, and this collection is for young brides like Sonakshi, she is my muse.  For me, it was a happy collection,” says designer Dolly Jhunjhunwala, who introduced teals, mauves, and lavender in keeping with the mood of easier hues, at the ICW 2024 in a show titled “La Vie En Rose” or “life in happy hues”.

The just married Sonakshi exclaimed, “Any girl would love this — it is feminine, divine, and glam.  The live music by singer Rachel, I was groovin’ to her beats. I’m not a pink person, but it takes vision to put me in something like this. Today, it is my colour. Though I love red, white, pastels, yellows, and my all-time classic is cream.”

Sonakshi, dressed in a curvaceous pink gown, is not one to mince words, and admitted at her wedding, “trendy is what I wore— a red woven sari, simplicity will never be out of fashion. What Dolly gave me is comfy, I can breathe, move around. It took me exactly five minutes to choose my wedding outfits.  I wore my mother’s sari and wedding jewellery for the court signing. Me and Zaheer are not fussy people,” she laughed.  She adds, she would like to wear something that makes her feel good from the inside.  “Flowy and feminine. Though for my bachelorette party, with the ‘Sona Mandi’ theme I wore an Anarkali, the outfit spoke for itself,” she added.

Lilac gowns with leg show, burnt maroons with embroidered bodices, Sonakshi sang “Love me” by Justin Bieber, along with the live crooner Rachel, next to the piano, on stage, and said, “Today, I am pretty in pink.”

Everything had a Midas touch -gold, boas, cutwork blouses, Dolly admits her signature remains gold/silver, plus, the love for colours, has been quite vivid—this year the theme looks like “Cinderella reloaded”, more like “once upon a time”, whimsical for the India Couture Week 2024.

Florals remain a constant, easy light shimmer makes movement less restrictive, “India is incomplete without bling,” she admits with a smile. This season, the innovations range from developing a fabric, which has the feel of “paper”, but is organza blended. “Clothes I design are not very Indian in their shapes,” says the self-taught designer.

The motifs are 3 D just as she likes them, only bigger and bolder, with peacock feathers, incorporated in the iconography. Mostly, cholis have gone risqué, but this time, Dolly has wooed the ones, who like to keep it traditional, fish cuts work well as well, as gowns and fitted skirts. “Brides have stopped hoarding clothes they want to wear and use, but the buying is timed, according to the occasion and season. There are fitter bodies, so they desire sculpted clothes,” she adds. Her repertoire has faux feathers for glamour, bustiers knotted at the back, sheer as well as gowns with pockets, not forgetting functionality.

Pink has been a bestseller and this time, Dolly tried a bit of teal, even though that was not her design vocabulary, though she hasn’t bid adieu to hot red!

Dolly Jhunjhunwala, has earlier paid a tribute to pearls in her line “Basra”, won over Sachin Tendulkar’s daughter Sara with an embellished draped sari, emboldened with thread work in gold as well as sequins.