Rajesh Pratap Singh may be India's most innovative designer with a flawless sense of style but he really isn't a people's person. The way he fielded Press queries ("I don't know"; "I just did it because it looks beautiful") confirmed our doubts.
His fall-winter 2004 LIFW show was spectacular, though, with an enthusiastic Tina Tahiliani seated next to sister in law Saleja and Raymond's Gautam Singhania giving him a standing ovation. Pratap's inspiration was Swiss surrealist artist, painter, sculptor HR Giger, creator of Alien.
The collection was dark but Pratap scored with his superbly tailored leather jackets, combined with lycra and knits, and his perfectly styled skirts and long quilted tunics. Said designer David Abraham: "It was elegant and disciplined in silhouette and choice of colours, in the way he started with reds and went onto blacks."
Singh is probably the country's first designer to cover the models' faces with a black cloth signifying the beauty of death and shifting focus to the cl-othes (one wonders how the models walked the ramp without tripping). Model Deepak (Sapna Kumar's fiancé) was the only one whose face was uncovered in the end.
Singh juxtaposed his Alien theme with the mystique of Beneras and its Shiva worshippers, with their midnight rituals. In fact, it was this mystery that ran rampant throughout the mesmerising 30-minute show. "His quilting and surface texturisation are fabulous. No one does it as well as him and this show just proved what a maverick he really is," concluded accessory designer Kalyani Chalwa.
{{/usCountry}}Singh juxtaposed his Alien theme with the mystique of Beneras and its Shiva worshippers, with their midnight rituals. In fact, it was this mystery that ran rampant throughout the mesmerising 30-minute show. "His quilting and surface texturisation are fabulous. No one does it as well as him and this show just proved what a maverick he really is," concluded accessory designer Kalyani Chalwa.
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