by Coming to a close on Sunday night, the grand finale of the Lakme Fashion Week in partnership with the Fashion Design Council of India with designer and couturier Rohit Bal was perhaps the most emotional of the evening. in the history of Indian fashion week.
Tears fell gently as designers, models and long-time friends watched the frail designer being escorted down the ramp after a grand display of his recognizable motifs. Full-length, flowy, layered dresses and his long-time favorite – roses – rampant and wild on the dresses.
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In the months of ill health leading up to this show the fashion fraternity came together in unexpected ways in support of the designer, popularly known as Gudda.
The music was also soft and sweet, with a heart-rending violin rendition as guests settled into their seats at the Imperial hotel, a rare place for a fashion event, with a history of elegance located on Janpath, in the heart of the city. It was lively, with a pop of joy for the show itself providing what many viewers said was an unexpected close to fashion week.
“It was hearing, love, surprise and appreciation for how Gudda stood with the fashion fraternity for many years; the inspiration he showed, the sadness of seeing him so weak, and the sheer joy of him returning to the work he loved, to give us a completely unexpected insight into his creativity,” a fellow fashion designer told WWD.
Gudda blew kisses to the audience, shared hugs with celebrity jeweler and face of the House of Lakme beauty brand, Ananya Panday, and stopped to dance to the music which continued even as his Kaaynaat: A Bloom in the Universe collection ended a run. . The collection itself, and its magnificence, was Rohit Bal. Bal has long been known for his boldness — usually with unapologetic motifs and loud cheers. This time, there were swirling capes, which brought with them the sense of celebration, of life.
“Kaynaat was a journey through the wonders of nature, celebrating the blossom of life and beauty,” said Bal about his collection.
Escorting him to the stage were the two stalwarts who have come together to hold the fashion weeks together in recent years – Jaspreet Chandhok, group vice-president, Reliance Brands Ltd., and Sunil Sethi, chairman of the Fashion Design Council of India, who introduced the new version. the duration of the fashion weeks combined with Lakme Fashion Week in partnership with FDCI, the calendar space shared between Mumbai in the early part of the year, and New Delhi in the second half.
Speaking about the finale, Chandhok simply said, “We have been watching its finale for years, and this time there were many variables at play. We had to be considerate of his health. It was very emotional through it all.”
There have also been some emerging designers from this season who are clearly on the radar for fashion watchers, and buyers as they emerge through growing celebrity, through awards, through the early process of breaking boundaries.
Aneeth Arora, Peru
Péro has tackled several different worlds easily summed up by some as weird and experimental, and by others as related to fabrics and textiles.
“We’ve always been able to serve both of our markets,” Aneeth Arora, the brand’s founder, told WWD. “We also have people who take our classic fabrics. For those who are experimental there is always the new theme and the variety.”
Péro means “throw” in Marwari, the local language of Rajasthan.
“For the past 15 years, we know what fine adjustments are needed to be on par with other fabrics. In a simple example, we started working with wool from Gujarat; we got feedback that it was too rough, then we started the invention of yarn. Same with kulu wool, after treatment after using the right kind of wool. We find the traditional and the handmade and find ways to make it innovative,” she said.
Already retailing in India in 25-30 stores, and in 35 countries worldwide, Arora is modest about the kind of retail the brand has achieved. “A lot of the stores we’re in are very niche stores, boutique stores around the world, located in vacation destinations where people go for hand-picked options,” she said. She doesn’t write off big retail: “If there are big retailers carrying luxury, it would be good to be there too,” she said, talking about the intensive process for handmade and handmade products. “It’s not just because the prices are high that it becomes a luxury. A lot of work goes into it and that provides luxury.” More than 300 people work directly at the brand, and more than 3,000 indirectly with weaving and embroidery from all over the country.
The brand saw the spotlight this time as the opening show of the fashion week, in an off-site show in collaboration with the Japanese company Sanrio, to celebrate the 50.th Hello Kitty’s birthday, which is celebrating around the world.
Speaking about the collection, which set the tone for fashion week, she said, “Péro had a bit of nostalgia and playfulness in everything we do because we know we have to do it right. The perception about Hello Kitty is that it is about children, we made women’s and men’s clothes; I think all of us children are looking for an element of fun. We laid it out on a plate.”
Ritwik Khanna, Rkive City
Ritwik Khanna’s two-year-old label Rkive City won the Circular Design Challenge, the highlight of the second day of the fashion week.
The challenge has a mix of partners, from R|Elan, the next generation fabric brand of Reliance Industries Limited, and the United Nations in India, to global entities such as the British Council, Istituto Marangoni, and Satisfaction.
It wasn’t just the brand’s story, but its clarity and vision that set it apart.
“This was the first runway show for the brand, I was looking down and walking, I didn’t know how to work a ramp,” said Khanna, describing the anxiety and elation as it appeared. “I was confident in our clothes, our solutions, the presentation of creativity in front of the jury, and being able to talk to people who can seriously cross-examine you, those who know that working in a very important circular direction.”
Khanna studied fashion business management from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and returned to India during the pandemic. He became interested in textile waste and studied its potential and outcome. “We are facing the big problem of textile waste, treating textile waste, to collaborate with social impact pieces; None of the things we did were for the competition.”
Khanna opened the first store in March. “It came as a place of exploration,” he explained. It’s a studio with an atelier at the back, the Indian market is very important to us and it’s at the heart of it; India knows how to take care of waste, now with fast fashion the situation is changing.”
Ankur Verma, Tel
Ankur Verma was already on the radar, but emerged stronger after winning the Spotlight with Nexa this season. His innovative, textured designs made it to the awards show, which focused on how fashion translates into a medium for expressive storytelling.
“I was exploring layering, textures, patterns and colors, revealing the mirages with masks and how they create layers of emotion,” he explained. His background, working in theatre, studying art and joining the National Institute of Fashion Technology in Kolkata, and four and a half years later working with fashion maestro Sabyasachi, set the tone for the brand, which seems to be. incorporating all these experiences, culminating in a whimsical style of his own.
After being shortlisted in the new designer category at the fashion week two years back, this was Verma’s fifth collection; his brand is three years old and he looked 42 this season. The brand stocks in multi-brand stores in India and a few internationally, including in Singapore and London. As Sunil Sethi described it, there were “diverse and innovative presentations from participants across the country” but Til grabbed the attention. “We loved seeing his collection come to life on the runway that inspired a new wave of designers to shape the future of fashion,” he said.
Others described his collection as “honest and personal” — as Verma described the experience.
“It wasn’t a fashion week, it was very personal. Like the Rohit Bal show at the end….everyone was there for Rohit, not for the fashion week.”
Was it too, shed a tag?
“Everybody called,” he said. “And I too had a tear of happiness, like a child looking at those roses and flowing white dresses; we’ve grown up with their evolving styles, and here it was larger than life.”
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