Merlyl Streeps projection of Margaret Thatcher sometimes hunched and sometimes haughty,but always well-coiffed made me fall in love with the woman the British Labour came to hate. It also made me adore blue,Thatchers colour of choice among a sea of men in lifeless black,as Streep put on twin-set after twin-set in shades of azure. (Didnt her cerulean lace gown remind you of the Duchess of Cambridges wedding dress?) Michelle Williams Marilyn Monroe wore pussy-bow blouses and pencil skirts her fragile femininity mirroring her delicate mind and overt sexiness. Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander can single-handedly be credited for bringing 80s punk back to the runways. And the movie of the year is a quaint French film that pays homage to the B&W silent ones. Arent you feeling swept by a tsunami of nostalgia? Like our award-sweeping films,fashion is hopping into the past too. The ongoing Paris Fashion Week is all about being in with the old. London doyenne Vivienne Westwoods collection harked back to four centuries of English dressing,right from Elizabethan corsets to Sherlock Holmes-esque tweeds. Jean Paul Gaultier teamed graffiti of the 80s with punk rock,showing bomber jackets,zippers,bands and gothic hair. At Hermes,Christophe Lemaires collection was chic and slouchy with models wearing trilbies,and was welcomed by critics as a lesson in longevity. Viktor & Rolphs moonlit models came from noir films. Alber Elbaz celebrated his decade at Lanvin with a hearts-and-flowers tribute to the labels greatest hits. Anything goes at Mumbais Lakme Fashion Week and its hard to spot an au courant trend here. But there were remembrances galore. Why Bhairavi Jaikishan,daughter of the spectacular wedding-wear prima donna,makes trousseau has me in sixes and sevens. Talented as she is,she remains in the shadow of her powerhouse mother she even plays her fathers songs in the background (her father,composer Jaikishan,was one half of old Bollywoods successful composing duo Shankar-Jaikishan). Her saris,lovely as they were,came entirely from a couture runway and not the resort-themed fashion week. Delhis It-girl Pia Pauro idealised and idolised the resort theme to perfection. Her tunics,kaftans,sundresses and swimsuits had Morocco and Ibn Batutas travels as muse. Unwittingly,Pauro filled the gap left by Monisha Jaising and Malini Ramani. Bombay-babe Jaisings oriental kurtas tucked into shorts that heralded her home citys casual vibe was omniscient in spirit. And if anyones missing revivalist-environmentalist-designer Wendell Rodricks,who bootcamped for the greener pastures of Delhis fashion week,Lakme brought on his former intern artist Payal Khandwala. Her sleeved-sari tunics were an invention of her ex boss. Shmaltz fever has taken over the countrys politics too. We may have seen Bal Thackeray only twice in two years but his Shiv Sena pulled aces at Mumbais municipality elections. In UP,Akhilesh Yadav is proving to be a tour de force,his Australian degree is dipped in the dustbowl of his homeland. If Rahul Gandhi cant bring back memories of his father,theres always Priyanka Gandhi to turn on the memories of grandma Indira,sans the unfashionable grey streak of course. namratanow@gmail.com
