The ongoing Amazon India Fashion Week Autumn Winter 2016 #AIFWAW16 Day 4 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was led by talented designers, who proved their creative mettle with admirable collections.
Ikai by Ragini Ahuja
With her autumn/winter ’16 collection, designer Ragini Ahuja took a journey through an illustrator’s notebook. There was an extensive use of original artworks of autumn leaves and animals. The designs exhibit the hand-done pen-and-paper illustrations against a grid-and-stripe background. There was an interesting colour palette of black, charcoal and paper brown with wild ginger accent lending a feeling of nostalgia and warmth to the collection.
The collection is defined around a luxurious blend of everyday wear and formal wear. The silhouettes for the collection are refined but relaxed. The ensemble is dominated by leather bralets, maxi jackets and boxy dresses cinched at the waist along with sculpted leather appliqué dresses and skirts. Neutral shades and easy separates were d\featured throughout the collection.
ILK
For their collection titled in terms of inspiration. stood out for its uniquenesscollection that ne o s’Here Dot On A Walk‘’, designers of the label ILK, Shikha and Vinita used pointillism, which is a technique of painting that involves small distinct dots of colours applied in patterns to form an image, as an inspiration.
With its youthful, novel and detailed aesthetic, as always ilk with the new collection managed to add a touch of handmade textures to contemporary fashion designs for women of global temperament.
The colour palette for the collection was predominantly Navy Blue and white with embroidery and designs in the form patterns of dots in white, black and red.
One of the unique and eye-catching designs were a bubble wrap print and another that had a world map printed on the front. Definitely one of those lovely designs you want to don right away!
Love Birds – Amrita Khanna
This season at the AIFW, designer Amrita Khanna introduced her new label, Love Birds, which was more of a formal line. It was a minimalist line with bits of geometry. She had used knits from Kullu, block printing from Gujarat and handwoven silks from Benaras for this collection adding a graphic touch to the garments.
The colours used were a bit brighter than what the designer usually uses—there were greys, ochres and reds playing around with sharper shades of olive green and navy blue. Ensembles in bold classic colours were adequately accessorized to make the look perfect.
It was a formal collection that started with easier pieces in cotton poplins but it got more luxurious with the subsequent pieces. The ensembles consisted of handwoven knits which were unisex pieces.
Bodice by Ruchika Sachdeva
The starting point for designer Ruchika Sachdeva’s collection this season was aprons. Bodice always focuses on making garments for the working women. In this line, the designer highlighted the idea of layering and utility by using pockets apart from the shape of the apron.
The colour palette used is a bit dark – grey, green, black and blue. There was a use of natural dyes for the colours— an iron-based dye for the grey, beautiful indigo for the blue and also copper that was mixed with natural brown for yellow flowers. Also, there was extensive use of handloom.
The collection had a lot of jackets and trousers. In this collection, the designer has reinterpreted the classic collar by introducing a lot of detailing.
Ekà – Rina Singh
Designer Rina Singh with her Eka’s Autumn Winter 2016 line, created a truly earthly collection. She experimented with polka dots, sharp stripes and metallic surfaces in this collection leaving no stone unturned making the name of the line ,”Full Circle. Full Stop” very apt.
This was a fresh collection from the designer which was all about her artistic inspirations, her textile innovations and more. Via this collection one could see some of her best creativity as she expresses that this line explores design with an intention.
The models were seen wearing chambray textures in wool, polka prints, dramatic stripes, silk-linen blends, linen and circles on herringbone lustrous surfaces combined with strong interwoven metallic stripes which were inspired by the artworks of John Paul Phillips, Jeppe Hein, Philippe Decrauzat and Alfonso Artiaco.
Each of the ensembles were all polka prints and chambray in wool, circles, stripes, linen and silk blends. The linen was blended closely with metallic stripes combined with herringbone, forming lustrous surfaces.
The earthy opulence in the use of metallics in artefacts, reflective images in the mirror art works in circles, and bleeding stripes gives a new direction to otherwise earthy and sombre imagery that Ekà is known for.
Anavila – Anavila Misra
This season was Anavila’s first solo show at the Amazon India Fashion Week. Named ‘Folk’, Anavila Misra’s A/W collection is inspired by an eternal free spirited muse who is travelling through time and collecting inspirations.
The collection has an artisan look and is very detailed and is influenced by folk textiles and techniques. The ensemble consisted of a plethora of wool kaftans, knits and jackets and printed trousers. In case of fabrics, the designer blended linen with lotus yarn, muga silk, kala cotton and wool to create beautiful winter saris – ethereal and earthy at once.
Mandira Wirk
Delhi-based fashion designer Mandira Wirk’s Amazon India Fashion Week 2016 collection ‘Romancing Rococo’ is inspired by the elegance, delicateness and asymmetry of the 18th century artistic movement of Rococo. The collection particularly takes a cue from the curlicues motifs and gilding of the iconic era and finds a modern-day expression in Wirk’s decidedly trans-seasonal collection. The collection tries to capture the elegance of the era without over the top.
The designs were brought to life using intricate and florid thread work, which are restricted to a tone-on-tone palette to keep it sophisticated yet subdued.
One could observe the intricacy of designs in the Rococo movement’s art and architecture as well as the elaborate curves and meticulous grid work in the collection. The garments had lightweight fabrics, versatile silhouettes, flattering cuts and generous layering. The ensemble consisted of panelled palazzos and constructed jackets to layered ‘Anarkalis’. The sari 2.0 was the toast of collection which was a epitome of feminine appeal with a contemporary edge much to the delight of the millennial woman.
The palette used comprised of gold and ivory, beige and black as well as tones such as maroon, grey, blue, pink, red and soft ombre. There were bold cut-outs as well as use of opaque fabrics and sheer.The designed were highlighted with the help of gilded embroidery.
The show stopper for the show, actress Malaika Arora was clad in an enchanting gold and black floor-length gown.
All in all an easy and wearable collection with a classical touch.
Pero by Aneeth Arora
The muse and inspiration for the collection was a rebellious little girl, Pippi, who loves to venture out. The collection had a lot of hand-knitted oversized jackets and sweaters in wool. For creating the ensembles, cotton and angora mixed with pashmina wool were used. To add an edge to the garments, 3D poppies were embroidered to the garments. The poppies embroidered were really highlighted by the use of checkered fabric of black and white. The dominant colours of the collection were black, white, olive with generous doses of red poppies. One bizarre feature of the collection was there would always be a pack of three socks and any two socks can be worn together. All in all a very sweet wearable collection.
Maybelline New York presents Namrata Joshipura
Fashion designer Namrata Joshipura’s Autumn Winter collection is inspired by the vibrancy and creativity of New York City. The designer who is known for her contemporary styles with modern interpretations and global outlook created a collection which is a fusion of street style with innovative ideas in technology, art and fashion.
Working in association with Maybelline New York, Joshipura’s collection displayed creations which expressed high-fashion New York style, complementing Maybelline’s latest innovations in make-up this season. Drawing inspiration from the various hues of Color Sensational Lip Gradation by Maybelline New York, the collection had wine, grape, berry tones and deep reds used in ombré gradation in dresses, embellishments and other techniques. Actress Athiya Shetty, who was the show stopper for the collection looked stunning as ever.