LAKMÉ FASHION WEEK WINTER/FESTIVE 2011: Day 1 at a glance!

The master of haute culture chic, Rohit BAL, opened the Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2011 season with his magnificent "Shaanti" collection at the off-site Tote Show which left the audience breathless. The pristine white interiors of the venue were appropriately decorated to match the theme of the collection. Heavily textured fabrics and silhouettes that encompassed meters of net, organza, lace, velvet and silk were used creatively to create magic on the ramp. The show stopper was the handsome Bollywood National Award Winner, Arjun Rampal who cheerfully swaggered down the catwalk in ivory pants, a zippered biker jacket worn over a long sleeved Tee with the word HERO glittering on the front.

The opening show of the day 2 was the GEN NEXT SHOW, featuring the amazing talents of the eight Gen Next designers including Farah Sanjana, Mohammed Javed Khan, Shashank Raj and Prajwal Badwe, Teresa and Roger, Thinles Chosdup and Nirajara Adhya. From stylish unconventional men's wear to scruffy women's ensembles and then onto extreme detailing and constructions; the presentation was a visual delight for the packed audience.

Farah Sanjana with its collection called "Collars Galore" presented a great creative story with a delightful fashionable twist. It emphasized the blends of origami, metal work and architectural shapes. With a label called "Ex-pression-ist" the collection by Mohammed Javed Khan had to be unconventional. Long sweaters, kurtas with comfortable loose pants, pullovers, long knit coats, ombre touches for the garments and quilted jackets along with military shirts and waistcoats made a great fashionable offering for the male dresser.

While Shashank Raj and Prajwal Badwe, under their personal label presented a collection that would please the modern woman, Siddharth Arya was inspired by the cult punk movement of the 1980s and used a quirky tittle, "Steam Punk."

Across the seas from Canada came the designer duo, Teresa and Roger with their collection called "Retarded Velvet". Giving emphasis to proportions, the collection had a unisex appeal with a relaxed unstructured touch. Also, with her label "UG-Urmi" Urmi Ghosh, presented an unconventional collection inspired by the tragic love story of Pablo Picasso and his beloved Dora Maar.

While Thinles Chosdup hails from Ladakh, Nirajara Adhya comes from Kolkata and the pair's label and collection was called "Koslak" which means clothes in Ladakhi. The duo presented a line inspired by the beautiful fabrics and traditional costumes of Ladakh and the silhouettes that are typical of the country. And lastly, with his persona label, Nikhil Thampi showed a collection that had all the right sparks of fashion for the Winter/Festive 2011 season.

A controlled stylish collection simply called "Urban Yogini" by Archana Kochhar announced the launch of her prêt-cum-diffusion collection for Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2011. Presenting four looks Archana restricted her colour story to dull shades of stone, raven black and pewter but added touches of canary yellow and bright tangerine and orange to highlight the garments. The beautiful show topper was Ankita Shorey, Femina Miss India International 2011, who glided down the ramp in a digitally printed orange flowing halter gown with black sequins cascades down the front.

Bringing in the characteristic glamorous touches for her collection during Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2011, Rina Dhaka dazzled the audience with the utterly feminine creations. The collection was like a delicate dream with sheer fabrics as they floated down the ramp. The Show stopper was the beautiful Bollywood actor, Sonal Chauhan wearing a plisse dot gota work skirt with a matching corset - an absolutely gorgeous ensemble that would evoke tinges of envy amongst many women.

What a show!!!! What a start!!!! With such an amazing and extravagant start it is really a wait and watch seen. Let's look forward for some more enthusiastic creations by the renowned fashioniftas. | By Aanchal Kohli [aanchal(at)adgully.com]