Tell-all designs
The upcoming Lakme Fashion Week Summer Resort 2013 in Mumbai will be young and vibrant. Gen-next participant designers talk about their creations, inspirations and dressing up stars. Disney Brar Talwar reports
Young, creative and bubbling with ideas, Gen-next designers seek their inspiration from wacky everyday concepts and prefer to experiment and fuse Indian concepts with western fashion. In both prêt and couture segments, aspiring designers are already grabbing plump assignments in the television and film industry and taking their positions in the Indian fashion scenario.
HT City spots some new talent that will display its creations at the upcoming Lakme Fashion Week Summer Resort 2013 to be held in Mumbai later this month, and gets talking about the challenges faced by them in dressing up celebrities. They also give us a lowdown on campus trends and predict ways to stay on the top of the fashion list.
Ken Fernandes, Mumbai
On his collection: My latest collection is inspired by the circus. I have played a lot with prints, which are inspired from gymnasts in action and vintage circus posters. The collection has a lot of palazzos, kaftans, loose tops and drop shoulder patterns.
Celebrity tantrums: Some celebrities are easy to work with while some are a nuisance. I have designed for top actors such as Sunny Deol, Urmila Matondkar and Perizaad Zorabian. After having dressed up more than 250 stars, I have learnt the tricks of the trade and ways of dealing with the celebrities.
Ken says there is a lot of talent in the industry, but budding designers get very little chance to prove their mettle. This is because a bunch of established designers have dominated the industry and they end up dressing the hi-profile celebrities.
Trends for youngsters: This season is all about fusion of bright colours. Mix and match a minimum of three colours in whatever you are wearing, preferring bright and bold shades. Funky is the word when it comes to summer dressing.
Riddhi & Siddhi Mapxencar, Mumbai
On their collection: Our collection this season witnesses a dominance of indo-western wear. We have used colours such as emerald green, dark onion pink, cream and bright orange. There is also a lot of use of gold in our designs. The collection is inspired from the ‘upanishads’ and more from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s ashram. We have tried to connect our collection with the soul, which is symbolised by the gold.
Celebrity tantrums: We have dressed up actors such as Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Vidya Balan, Parineeti Chopra, Sonam Kapoor and Anushka Sharma. Modern age actors are more experimental when it comes to styling themselves. But sometimes, many celebrities get comfortable with carrying a particular style statement and refuse to adopt a new fashion. That is when their designers need to have good convincing power to persuade them to try on something new.
Trends for youngsters: Youngsters should wear a lot of white, cream, pinks and oranges with hints of gold. Sport denim shorts with feminine tops in pastel hues or jumpsuits, which are in this season.
Deepti Pruthi, Mumbai
On her collection: My collection is inspired from ‘Mardi Gras’, an expression that marks the beginning of a party. I have used a lot of geometric and floral motifs and accentuated the fabric with beads. The colours that I have played up in my collection are white, peach, lilac, mint green and lemon yellow.
Celebrity tantrums: I regularly design for actor Sonam Kapoor, who is a perfect example of how a celebrity should dress up. She is a designer’s muse, being very experimental and is always game to try on new designs, silhouettes, colours and patterns in both western outfits and Indian ensembles.
Campus trends: Girls on campus should go in for loud lemons and pop pinks. For this season, sheer blouses are in and one must definitely have bermudas and school shorts.