Lakme Fashion Week: Day 2 from the ramp

Debashri Samanta

12.00 pm > Debashri Samanta, Divya Sheth, Sayantan Sarkar
Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State for Ministry of Textiles inaugurated the Indian Handlooms and Textiles Day with the traditional lighting of the lamp. Debashri Samanta set the mood for the day with fish-and-hook print, forming the main motif of her collection called Hooked, which we were told, was inspired by Vietnam.

Debashri Samanta's line was fish-and-hook inspired

The motifs teased in shades of black, purple and white. While the silhouettes ranged from printed coats to voluminous skirts. While Samanta used Jamdani motifs, Divya Sheth presented Ajrakh Jo Galicho, reinventing the Ajrakh print mixed with hand painted Kalamkari. Unlike the purples in the previous show, Sheth's palette comprised muted shades of henna, and turmeric yellow.

Sayantan Sarkar showed promise with his Jamdani weaves and crisp jackets. Pics/Satyajit Desai

Next up was Sayantan Sarkar with a few options for men too; well-cut layered jackets of different sizes worn over boxy shirts and trousers. He followed the layered separates route for women too. We had one grouse though. The Japanese Doll print seemed like an echo of the print that made the label Quirkbox famous. What we liked was the use of Jamdani weaves and the crisp jackets on show.

Pic/ Shadab Khan

Line play: Shruti Sancheti did a brilliant play of colours in reds and blues, woven to create checks that worked great for flow-ey bottoms and blouses that you could wear to work too. We loved how she utilised structured pants made of silk, clean-cut dresses with golden threads creating woven geometric patterns, as by now we are tired of seeing the same asymmetric skirts, sheer layers, typically used by most of the Textile Day designers.

Beige and the beautiful
Soumitra Mondal never fails to wow us each time, with his earthy-meets-royal weaves - the delicate pale pink flower buds, come for special praise. This season too, with the use of Jamdani, khadi, cottons and silks, Mondal took his garments a level up with beautiful thread and pearl embroidery creating patterns on beige fabrics, with a dash of gold and pale pink.

Pic/ Satyajit Desai

Class all the way
1.30 pm > Anavila, Purvi Doshi, Sashikant Naidu

Last season, designer Anavila Misra had won votes with her handwoven saris. And, this collection, Mohenjodaro, tried to take us back in time when fabrics were beautifully created by hand, every thread adding to the beauty of the fabric. While the collection offered nothing new compared to her previous lines, it was beautiful, nonetheless. She earned extra points for exhibiting different ways in which the sari could be draped; the clay accessories impressed too. The classy Konkona Sen Sharma stole our hearts when she strode down in her gold sari.

Actress Konkona Sen Sharma gave the ramp a touch of earthy class when she walked the ramp for Anavila Misra

Purvi Doshi's collections in the last two seasons were very similar hence we were desperately hoping for something new from the designer. She engaged us with the use of mirror embroidery from Kutch, done in geometric format to resemble Aztec prints. Our favourite was a red sari with mirror work on the border, which can be a talking point for the upcoming festive season. The use of tie-and-dye style in shades of blue, lemon green and orange made for a fresh palette too.

Shriya Saran spelt oomph as she sashayed for Sashikant Naidu. Pics/Shadab Khan

Sashikant Naidu started his show on a good note with a grey and black tie-and-dye silk jacket and skirts accessorised with colourful bursts of dangling fabric flowers. From the rest of the collection, the hand-painted flower designs on crepe saris were a good effort.

Tribal blast
Vaishali S's collection Rabari, merged the vivaciousness of India's tribes. We liked the colour-play along with a few modern silhouettes and saris with beautiful pallas that were paired with equally stylish lattice blouses. The shorts spelt indie coolth.


Pic/Satyajit Desai