India Couture Week 2017: The Highlights

The India Couture Week is an exciting time in India’s fashion calendar because it also heralds the start of wedding season, the real occasion in India where the best looks serve as inspiration for young brides and their stylish friends. This year, the ICW was extra special and saw the coming together of 14 of India’s most talented couturiers, to celebrate 10 years of the India Couture Week. With Bollywood stars turning showstoppers for the designers, it was an extravagant affair which concluded on the 30^th of July.

Here’s a quick round up of the highlights of the week:

Day 1

The FDCI India Couture Week 2017 was opened by Anamika Khanna who showed us that installations are the way to go in the fashion field! Her collection stunned the crown with her show that offered the viewers a close touch and feel experience with her craft. The outfits were exceptionally designed, with richly embroidered fabrics in a neutral and monochromatic colour palette, which blended seamlessly into a mandap set-up.

The second master who opened the show just right was Rohit Bahl, whose Mughal inspired collection in rich colours and intricate embellishments created the perfect picture of a royal bride. We loved his Kashmir inspired motifs and textures!

Day 2

The highlight of the second day of the fashion extravaganza has to be Manav Gangwani’s perfectly executed collection, India @70, which was his tribute to India’s rich heritage. Inspired by India’s diverse history and culture, Manav managed to weave a beautiful retelling of the country’s journey through his well executed designs that were a blend of the traditional and the contemporary. With a colour palette dominated by pinks, oranges and reds that truly celebrates India’s spirit, Manav’s collection was a true hit. We especially loved the look he gave to showstopper Disha Patani, who perfectly illustrated an Indian bride in black.

Day 3

Day 3 brought in a whole lot of experimentation to the ramp, with the designers working with uncommon textiles in unconventional colour palettes to create new and unique silhouettes. The best example for experiments in colour would be Reynu Taandon’s collection, Cyan, which gave the Indian Bride a whole new direction to dream of when planning a trousseau. The couturier’s well designed and heavily bejeweled fabrics were reinvented into cuts that are well structured and flattering for the new-age bride, perfectly modeled by showstopper Bhumi Pednekar.

Tarun Tahiliani, master of wedding fashion design presented a fall-inspired collection that maintains his reputation as the king of Indian Couture. This year, he added some some new colours to his dazzling designs including black and pastel shades, in fabrics that were light and gauzy.

Day 4

Day 4 was a feast for the eyes with what the designers did with colour and print! The first designer that blew our minds that day was Rahul Misra who used patterns on wedding-wear to create looks that are elegant, exquisite and absolutely wearable. We loved his colour palette and the detailed ornamentation that each outfit carried!

We were very impressed a second time that day with Anju Modi’s collection that was inspired by 16^th Century Rajasthani Miniature paintings of the Kishangarh School of Art. With a colour palette that were dream reproductions of paintings in heavily adorned fabrics, her collection is actually something we can’t wait to see off the ramp!

Day 5

Day 5 of ICW saw a resurgence of the Art Nouveau period in Art Histroy with Varun Bahl’s delicately constructed tribute to the age of nature. He married the sensibilities of the Art Nouveau days to Indian silhouettes so perfectly to result in a collection that was opulent and mesmerizing.

Monisha Jaising brought some glamour on to the ramp with her collection, Opera, which was a highly wearable collection of party outfits that every Indian woman should consider owning. From her re-imaginings of the saree to dresses with super-high slits, she redefined sexy with her metallic designs. We loved what showstopper Shilpa Shetty wore from her collection!

Day 6

Anita Dongre is a couture week staple and her collections never fail to impress. She continues the trend this year too, presenting a collection that is in her signature styles, proving that she truly is the queen of bridal wear. With regal colours that bear her iconic threadwork, the outfits in her collection shone in their resplendence.

Another designer who stood out for us on day 6 was Gaurav Gupta, whose celestial themed ‘Moondust’ shone for all the right reasons. With wispy fabrics and colours reminiscent of pearly moonlit nights, the collection was unique and we loved it!

Huma Qureshi set the stage on fire when she walked for Rina Dhaka on the last day of FDCI India Couture Week 2017. Shining in a gold and silver attire, Bollywood actress Huma Qureshi looked stunning. The beautiful attires in Rina Dhaka’s couture line #HonourTheSmile was paired with Narayan Jewelers timeless glittering jewellery, which looked modern and sophisticated.

But the real show-stoppers were the young ladies from Smile Foundation, who walked the runway holding hands with the models, with a never ending smile.

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The grand finale of the show was a glittering presentation of Manish Malhotra’s collection featuring Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh as showstoppers. With ensembles featuring long trains, lots of jewels and embellishments and royal colours, the pair set the stage on fire and closed the show with much splendor!

And that brings us to a wrap with yet another round of India Couture Week. The show we must say continues to be a grand success and we can’t wait to see how these looks will translate to the weddings of 2017-18. And just in have missed anything out, the Indian Couture Week 2017 is still trending. Check it out and get inspired!