Plain plaits, with flowers, Bandhini saris draped across the waist deliciously, Zardosi collars peeping out of velvet jackets, asymmetrical dresses caressing lithe bodies and saffron adding a mystical edge, Tarun Tahiliani gave Maha Kumbh his heavenly experience, a spiritual twist as models walked down on the mesmerizing Sounds of Isha.
The Jamevars to satins in many ways lit up his trademark drapes and his belief in the higher power that makes it all happen. The Maha Kumbh was a game changer much like the Inner Engineering course I did with Sadhguru, says Tarun, a Wharton graduate who used saffron as a representation of that energy he experienced while he took the proverbial life altering, auspicious dip in the Ganges.
Day two, was experimental for many, including Samant Chauhan, who has been supplying his vintage-looking wallets to the US retail giant Anthropologie. This time he took it a step further by creating leather jackets with embroidered sleeves in the raw, natural tan colours to go with his flared gowns. There was tussar, dabka and zari but he made sure it wasnt overpowering in his layered gowns or angarakhas. I had a tough time, working with leather, it was new for me, he adds.
If it was leathery winter for Samant, it was a shimmering one for Pallavi Mohan of the label Not So Serious, with her sequinned shorts, basket weave golden skirts, faux fur lined coats, quilted drainpipe pants and cutwork jackets.
Peplum is still having a field day on catwalks, and Hemant and Nandita used it to create a delicate mood by using cutwork. The nice touches were the cutwork pockets, foresty prints in muddy hues and lace sleeves on body hugging dresses.
Experiments sometimes are the only way to realise there is something unexplored waiting to be discovered, and for Ruchika Sachdeva of Bodice, it was a bit like that. So it was inside out, with the transparent bags crafted out of plastic, or the ingenious pockets she added that made her play with androgy in menswear colours grey look wearable, minus any bling or embellishment. It was the asymmetrical beaded, pixilated patterns inspired by the digital age, or Lego that she used effectively with her indigo dyes and hand block printing, juxtaposing contrasts. I kind of work best with the anti-fit, oversized look, the boys wore the same clothes I made for the girls, so the idea that you can wear each others clothes is endearing, she adds. Mixing traditionalism the modernity, with her woven khadi teamed up with plastic which is edgy and sharp, Ruchika gave women a reason to play with geometrics, this Fall.