Business of Fashion Outshines Slowdown

With more than a hundred designers participating at the latest Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, the business of fashion seems to have emerged as the biggest trend of the apparel industry. The flurry of fashion weeks in the country is a direct indication of a growing business and high-rising lifestyle. The recently concluded WLIFW reflected an expanding demand for the creative collection of Indian fashion designers while, echoing a mixed mood due to the overall market slowdown.

Fashion Everywhere

The five day long affair was all about the fashion, style and the latest in trends for the forthcoming season. The Autumn-Winter '09 week kick-started with the happening and appealing collection of an accomplished designer, Nitin Bal Chauhan, who left the message of dark sombre moods and global slowdown with an apt title 'Condition apply-II'. The neutral shades were the talk of all five days with designers Rajesh Pratap Singh, Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna, Raghavendra Rathore, Yuvraj Siddharth Nagpal, Gaurav Gupta, among others, unveiling dim and moody collections to show their awareness of the times. "The neutral shades might be apt with the present timings but personally, I've always liked black and the grey shades," summed Rathore.

Several other collections despite slump were high on exuberance and very colourful which included designers like Ritu Kumar, Pankaj and Nidhi, Ankur Modi and Priya Modi, Rehane, Sonam Dubbal, Kavita Bhartiya and Jenjum and Jasleen. While a number of designers played with the tints of placid blue, dark pink, vibrant orange and burgundy, the others preferred to stick to the traditional tones of red, maroon, yellow and green. "I feel the vibrant colours play magic when the mood is sombre around. Also, fashion is all about the colours with designers working on varied hues," opined Ranna Gill who partnered with designer Rina Dhaka and Fiama Di Wills to showcase a special collection titled 'Nature Meets Science'.

Designers like Prashant Verma showcased as artistic representation of the Greek narrative of robust and mighty male aggression and its fascination with perfection. Titled 'Meat'- the outfits were all about power dressing and aggression. The utterly exotic and high on drama show by Manish Arora, brought the beauty and vibrant colours of 'Jungle' live on the ramp. Models carrying the sitting monkey hand-bags were exceptionally creative and were highly appreciated.

Most of the designers were high on wearability and presented a collection with a lot of Indian silhouettes and sari. Satyapaul's 'Maya' was a beautiful portrayal of an illusionary life, comprising the contemporary and traditional attires. Designer duo Swapan and Seema showcased a women's wear range that combined femininity with power and success. The amalgamation of Western and Indian ethnic wear was very much visible. Another designer Reynu Tandon and duo Ashima and Leena Singh showed their proficient technique of heavy embellishments, sequins and beads mostly in the Indian silhouettes.

The fashion week was not completely about the feminine lines alone, as there were a couple of designers who exclusively presented the men's wear range. Rajvi Mohan, the debutante of the previous season presented neat and clean cuts in menswear with a wide range of fusion of colours. On the other hand, Manoviraj Khosla's collection was all chic and sporty reflecting a complete menswear wardrobe. Designer SiddarthaTytler's collection fashioned an amazing impact on the audience with a combination of basic and trendy silhouettes with great detailing. Designer Manish Malhotra, this season too was involved in designing the complete look of the Kolkata Knight Riders, which dictated the fusion of glamour and sports on the ramp.