Off the block

The last time Goa-based designer Wendell Rodricks showed a collection at Wills India Fashion Week was in 2004,when he translated his love for the sea and the sand into a fluid,monochromatic collection. His opening show at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) took off from there: he delivered a resort collection high on chic,and coolly casual. Rodricks played around with sheer linens,organzas and polished cottons,magically weaving out of them seamless overshirts,jersey dresses and tent dresses. Shown in two segments,the collection was inspired by the Cubist Movement of the 20th century,made famous by Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris. While the first segment had Rodricks’ signature whites,the second brought alive warm colours like peach and magenta,red and acqua,each with a seahorse leitmotif running through it. The squares,a salient feature of the Cubist movement were interpreted through padded shoulders and square necklines,but what really caught the eye were Rodricks’ take on Indian ensembles like the lungi,the dhoti and the saree. Model Tamara Moss pirouetted in a gorgeous saree-kaftan,while Lakshmi Rana looked graceful in a hot pink dress with an in-built wrap. From the lungi wrap gowns to the dhoti gowns each ensemble was simple,but ingenuous. “You see his clothes and you wonder how something so simple could look so delicate and gorgeous,” gushed Kavita Bhartia of Ogaan at the end of the show,while socialite Feroze Gujral nodded in assent.

After Rodricks’,his Mumbai colleague Narendra Kumar’s show was a bit dry. Like his earlier ones at the Lakme Fashion Week,it was conducted without music,the models walked the ramp glumly silent,even as catcalls and loud hoots erupted in the show area. The collection,inspired by what the designer called the process of introspection,had a series of flounced dresses and trousers in linen and silk,taffeta and organza,with embroidered details. Supposedly inspired by Japanese craftsmanship (or was it to impress the Japanese buyers who are the apparent focus of this fashion week?) the fitted pants and the cropped jackets were meticulous,but lacked any chutzpah. We’ll remember the silence,not the clothes.