Daily Front Row

2009 March 31

More Mumbai!

Comments | | Print

Rimzim Dadu Fall 2009
View Gallery

(MUMBAI) Lakme Fashion Week has become known as the incubator Fashion Week in India…the fashion community, and all the people who buy, wear, report on, photograph or love fashion are richer for the many new talents that have come out of these weeks, and mostly from being selected for the Levi’s Gen Next show. Alumni include Rahul Mishra, Kallol Datta, Nachike Barve, GABA and more.

For this Fall Winter 2009 season, the Gen Next group included Atithi Guota, Vinit Agarwal, Gopal Roy, Tanvi Kedia, Shweta Chhawchharia, Paromita Banerjee, Sonam Mehta, Tuhina and Parul Shulka.

Highlights from this group show were the rich green, grey and brown appliquéd stripes, in a wide array of geometric formations on the skirts, dresses and jackets. Immaculately tailored and executed, with great fit and construction, these clothes showed Gopal Roy’s commanding knowledge of fabric manipulation. Tanvi Kedia’s colorful and very playful collection used both pales and bright traditional fabrics woven in select villages. Her inspiration was the idea of a “Cabinet of Wonders” where many different things collected over the years, from exotic journeys or by personal sentiment come together. In her “attic of memories” this collection had a chic hippie attitude, humor, kitsch and delicate, fancy touches.

Rimzim Dadu’s “My Village” collection was a medley of browns, oranges and some greens and gray. Solid wools and other fabrics were turned in show shopping creations by the clever “twists, turns, weaves and braids” of her fabric manipulation. The clothes had postive and negative layers in stiff wool or sheer chiffon. Rimzim says, “It’s a journey, an evolution, a progression...but also a fight.” Her gray flannel stencil dress and crazy orange weave stood out.

GABA, the collection designed by Aneet Arora and Chinar Farooqui which completely took the international press and buyers by storm a few seasons ago, continued to do so with a collection entirely in indigo deep blues, light blues, and shades of denim blues, in stripes, solids, grids, all dyed and printed in traditional peasant techniques in Rajasthan. They stayed true to their silhouettes of smocks, and jumpers, and relaxed loose layers worn over wide salwar pants, and apron tied tops, along with the most irresitable collection of peasant scarves.

Knitwear was re-invented by Vivek Kumar in a military camouflage green dress and embellished shrug with ribbed knit sleeves. A little Mad Max in its styling, and with epic war movie music, there were several strong knits to take notice of.

Pria Kataria, who hails from Bahrain and knows her customers, offered some of the most beautiful silk botanical, floral prints in pinks, browns, rusts and yellows. From caftans and saris to sexy short dresses, they made for an upbeat, fast-paced show with many saleable looks.
FERN MALLIS