Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2017, Days 1 & Day 2: What’s Hot and What to Expect

The new fashion season is here with a flourish and now that the Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2017 has started, we know it’s time we pay attention and upgrade. India’s biggest fashion event started on the 1^st of February at the Reliance Jio Gardens, Mumbai. We’re excited for this year’s show because it is a demonstration of how fashion can send messages that spark changes. The special message being delivered: Inclusivity In Fashion.

We’re expecting a lot of new faces this year, models and designers alike, but we’re most excited for Anjali Lama, LFW’s first transgender model, from Nepal. The show this year will also feature messages and conversations on stereotyping, sexual harassment victim blaming (look out for AJIO’s NotWhatIWear campaign on day 5)

The LFW opened on a luxury cruise liner on the Arabian Sea with Monisha Jaising’s romantic collection for the modern jet-setting woman which featured Sonakshi Sinha as a showstopper.

The budding Gen Next designers had their big moment on Day 1 and their collections were quite impressive. We saw glimpses of Bengal through Soumyadeep Dutta’s Bengali saree inspired collection ‘Laal paar saada sari’.

Another interesting collection was ‘Kuki’, from the new label Poochki by designers Ishant Mukherjee and Anirudh Chawla that featured layer worthy pieces in sheer fabrics and mild colours with unusual prints such as pandas and tortoises. Pallavi Singh’s collection, Tokyo Delhi showed us the power of a perfect fusion between two cultures.

The Lakme Fashion Week has always been a platform to promote indigenous art and textiles and this year is no exception with several designers looking home for inspiration. Day 2 was particularly dedicated to Indian Textiles and Sustainable Fashion with many designers choosing traditional Indian fabrics such as Khadi in their designs.

Notable collections include Assam based designer Sanjukta Dutta’s glamorous tribute to her homeland with a collection of Assam style Mekhla sarees, with the ever vivacious Preity Zinta as her showstopper.

Another very poignant moment from Day 2 was designer Mandeep Negi’s show, which featured girls rescued from Mumbai’s red light areas with the help of NGO, Kranti.Other designers showcased how traditional clothes can be represented in high-end fashion and demonstrated various re-imaginings of traditional weaves. The sari got several makeovers through the day.

The fabric and fibre jewellery collections of Smriti Dixit were also very interesting as were the ayurvedic herb infused clothes in Reshma Merchant and Priyanka Kaul’s (House of Milk) collection, Healing Garments.

The big industry names that we’re excited for this season are Kareena Kapoor for Anita Dongre (can’t wait to see Bebo back!) and Padmalakshmi for Tarun Tahiliani. The internationally fabulous Falguni and Shane Peacock are also making an LFW comeback this year after six seasons away and we can’t wait to get blown away.

We’ve had an interesting two days so far, with fashion that speaks volumes- about identity, inspiration and environmental ethics. We’re awed by the newbies and loving the return of long lost faces. The next few days with the big names showing their collections should be fun.