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Journalism of Courage
WHEN designer par excellence and textile wizard Rajesh Pratap Singh presents a white shirt, it is never basic or simple. So when he calls a collection “The Punjabi Suit”, you can be rest assured that it won’t be about conventional salwar kameez sets and Patiala pants. On Friday night, during the big reveal of his collection on the Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) Winter/Festive 2016 ramp, Singh proved yet again why he is the master of reinvention.
His trademark white shirt came in a longer length, with an off-centre placket and rolled-up collar. His salwar-kameez interpretations saw cropped lengths teamed with off-kilter striped kurtis and voluminous pin-tucked tunics cinched by vests and waist-coats. All topped with a severe narrow dupatta and Singh’s trademark selvedge stripe running down the back. Both women and men donned wide-leg trousers, skirt/pants combos and dhoti variations with double-breasted jackets and bandhgalas, marking a distinctly gender-neutral statement.
Also shrugging off stereotypes was Arjun Saluja, who named his collection “Dissonance”, put zippers and asymmetric hems on sherwani shapes and added lopsided plackets to angular kurtas. Taking the deconstruction theme forward, he took the bomber jacket and gave it his inimitable twist, with a hem that reached mid-thigh and pockets on extra-long cowled sleeves. The classic white men’s kurta saw an overlapping front and was teamed with wide-leg trousers.
In contrast, Kanika Goyal brought on drama with a play on the lapels of her jackets and coats. Inspired by architect Frank Gehry and his disruptive design philosophy, Goyal deconstructed conventional shapes by adding a leather patch under the lapels of a teal coat, presenting a sleeveless jacket with one collar and another variation with multiple lapels in contrasting hues.
Taking a playful view of things was upcycling specialist Kriti Tula of Doodlage with her collection “Hopscotch”. She used the conventional shirt and regular cropped pants, turned them into patchwork masterpieces and dressed them up with paint splashes and quirky quotes.
To dye for, literally, were some interesting pieces from Chirag Nainani’s “Coup De Grace”, where his resist dyeing expertise was seen on a wine-coloured sari wrapped over palazzo pants, topped with a belted jacket. Begging for attention were his twists on the kalidar peplum top and a four-pocketed trench coat teamed with a maxi dress.
Also going maximal in silhouette and concept, was Sohaya Misra of Chola who took comfort dressing to a whole new level. Generous cowls added volume to floor-length shirt dresses and over-sized shirt-style trench coats buttoned up in the front and back. Seeing the ease with which showstopper Manisha Koirala walked the ramp, we were tempted to turn up the volume too.
