Look no further! From silhouette to fabrics and weaves, embellishments to colour, stellar craftsmanship — the second digital edition of the India Couture Week gives tips aplenty on how to ace the look and your trousseau this wedding season.
From bride-to-be to friends of the bride and groom, and the big fat extended Indian family, choose haute couture from as many as 19 high fashion designers for the D-day. I bring to you styles that stood out.
WHAT TO WEAR
- Manish Malhotra: Signature trails, sheer veils and layering drapes
- Tarun Tahiliani: Lehengas, shararas, concept sarees, kurtas, choli capes, coats, skirts.
- Suneet Varma: Soft 16-kali skirts in silk tanchoi with long trails, sheer veils in tulle, and sharara sets in silk georgette.
- Siddartha Tytler: Anarkalis with 50-kalis for men and women, lehengas with 40 panels; sherwanis with gigantic skirts and ruffled dupattas created out of 60 metres of fabric.
- Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna: Chic verticality to the embroideries, whether on a halter-neck gown or on an ornate velvet tuxedo jacket
- Falguni Shane Peacock: The lehenga in fitted and flared silhouettes, ball gown-style lehengas.
- Varun Bahl: Draped skirts and dresses paired with bralettes, jackets with power shoulders, lehengas, peplum tops with skirts, slip dresses paired with long jackets, capes with trousers.
- Reynu Taandon: Mirrored lehengas, anarkalis, traditional saris, shararas and gararas.
- Kunal Rawal: Contemporary, never seen before silhouettes such as the kurta-kaftan for men.
- Shantnu & Nikhil: Famed draped kurtas for men in kaleidoscopic prints, paired with bundis and military-inspired short bandhgalasin black; cowl trousers update the dhoti silhouette that pairs well with both the shorter jackets and longer sherwanis; for women, there were ball gowns and
- Ashima-Leena: Classic blouses, circular lehengas, antique delicate sarees with jewelled tassels, brocade-woven odhnis with antique gold fabrics and re-interpreted lengthened jackets that can be worn with various classic silhouettes.
- Gaurav Gupta: Couture Slim gowns, short party dresses, hybrid lehengas, concept saree gowns. Men can go for tuxedos, bandhgalas, jackets, flared trousers.
DRAPE IN?
- Tarun Tahiliani: Organza brocade, tulle brocade, moonga silk brocade and sheer silk, tulle, novelty crinkle.
- Rahul Mishra: Silk organza, georgette, crêpe and tissue along with banarasi cutwork and chanderi silk.
- Kunal Rawal: Diverse range of new fabrics, including linen, cotton, and linen satin.
- Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna:Velvet, duchesse satin, and chiffon.
- Varun Bahl: Organza, silk, satin, tulle, velvet, and even denim.
- Gaurav Gupta: Silk crepe, organza, silk dupion, silk georgettes, tulle, velvet, egyptian cotton, wool.
EMBELLISH IT RIGHT
- Manish Malhotra: Age-old zardozi, badla, and signature sequins on modern silhouettes.
- Tarun Tahiliani: Chikankari, mirror jadau work, jaalis or dori, gota-patti, pearls, sequins, cut-dana, resham flowers, along with embroideries such as aari, zardozi, dori.
- Rahul Mishra: Age-old techniques of hand embroidery interpreted for the world of today.
- Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna: Cutwork, layers of sheer tulle covered with delicate organza frays. For men, the controlled use of tassels and fringes added movement and layers. Sparing use of gem-coloured crystals and metallic thread embroidery added luxury to modern tailored silhouettes
- Falguni Shane Peacock: Swarovski crystals, pearls, mirrors, sequins, bead.
- Suneet Varma: Tone-on-tone embroidery in delicate glass beads, crystals, and threadwork.
- Shantnu & Nikhil: Exquisite hand embroideries that shimmered with crystals, while leather appliqués lent a powerful statement to each look.
- Amit GT: Ruffles, scrunched textures, feathers.
- Pankaj & Nidhi: Exceptional techniques such as origami folding, handcrafted appliqués and latticework in new age materials with iridescent sheen.
- Siddartha Tytler: Surface ornamentation, ruffles and pleating, laser cutting and quilting.
COLOUR ME HOW
The colour palette encompassed sindoori reds, pastels, beiges, subtle hues of lilac, dusty salmon, mustard, lemons, sage, rust, ivory, golds, aubergine, wines, navy, olives, steel grey, denim blue, iced sky, charcoal, emerald, amethyst, garnet, sapphire, pearl ivory, royal purple, turquoise, valiant poppy, light turquoise, mulberry, fuchsia to indigo, stark black & white, space grey, night teal and neptune blue.
Go pick one, or how about made-to-measure at your local tailor and let your creativity flow.
