FDCI India Couture Week Day 3 celebrates Rajasthan’s rich heritage, modern brides

A model displays a design on Friday. (Photo: Asian Age)

Day 3 at FDCI India Couture Week began with Bollywood celebrities walking the ramp for their favourite designers. While actress Divya Khosla Kumar walked for Reynu Taandon celebrating the brilliance of Rajasthani artwork, Yami Gautam walked for the designer duo Rimple and Harpreet Narula. Their creations were inspired from poetry of Kahlil Gibran.

Designer Reynu Taandon’s collection, “Kamangari”, was inspired from the beauty and grandeur of Rajasthan. Every silhouette reflected the ethnic heritage of the state, ranging from meticulously handcrafted foil printing to usage of block prints on vibrant chanderi fabrics.

“Evoking a spirit of royalty in every seam and stitch, my collection is for the ‘new-age’ bride — a girl that redefines the conventional bridal fashion with all that is modern along with an imperial twist,” said the designer. Her collection was all about the modern bride who not only wishes to retain her originality but also reflect the intensity of emotions through the silhouettes she dons. Divya looked stunning in a red lenhega teamed-up with traditional jewellery.

Designer Rimple and Harpreet Narula’s collection, “Hiraeth”, took inspiration from the late poet Kahlil Gibran. The designers used techniques like French paisley, arabesque cartouches, geometrical prints and Afghan prints in this collection.

The models walked on the ramp in luxurious drape of vintage textile in ethereal hues, ranging from ivory, gold, marsala and midnight blue. “Our collection is a tale of travels. Whenever we both travel we get inspired by lot of things and include that in our collection. It is all about motifs. We thought it would be a riot of motifs. Every outfit has a tale of its own,” said the designer-duo.

The Sanam Re actress Yami Gautam who was the showstopper wore a minar lehenga that featured stunning hand-embroidered motifs derived from a Mughal monument lit up under a star-spangled midnight sky. Ace designer Rahul Mishra’s collection, “Monsoon Dairies”, redefined bridal couture with the colour palette ranging from white, beige, peach, pink, pearl and black. “It was an intentional call to avoid the traditional bridal couture pattern. I wanted to create something that is for the modern day Indian bride. However, I kept elements from rest hand technique and artworks alive,” said the designer.

The award-winning designer displayed as many as 36 ensembles for the modern day bride with the elements from hand-woven artworks inspired by the flora of the monsoon. Rahul said that the entire collection took almost four months to complete and over 250 artisans were involved in the entire process as “everything was handmade”. Designer Anamika Khanna closed the day with an off-site show at the Leela Palace Hotel. She showcased her offbeat bridal collection, ‘When Time Stood Still’. Using fabrics like organza and georgette, Anamika used a myriad of hues such as white, beige, gold, salmon pink, celadon green, fiery red, black and yellow. The collection also saw a wide use of heavy embellishments, sequinned work, hand weaves and intricate work of gold embroidery on the silhouettes.