COOL CUTS

“You see his clothes and you wonder how something so simple could look so delicate and gorgeous,” gushed Kavita Bhartia of Ogaan at the end of the show,while socialite Feroze Gujral nodded in assent.

Narendra Kumar’s show was conducted without music, models walked the ramp glumly as they have for the same designer before,even as catcalls and loud hoots erupted in the show area. The collection,inspired by what the designer called the process of introspection,had a series of flounced dresses and trousers in linen and silk,taffeta and organza,with embroidered details. The fitted pants and the cropped jackets were meticulous,but lacked any chutzpah. We’ll remember the silence,not the clothes.

The first Indian designer to step out of the domestic market to tap the mecca of high fashion: Paris. The only Indian designer to have conceived of an autobiography that cost a neat Rs one lakh—there’s very little that is conventional about Ritu Beri’s career. But her comeback show to the Indian fashion fold,after almost a hiatus of 10 years,could make up for the sense of being let down.

Almost as if to recompense,Tarun Tahiliani’s visual extravaganza had us revisit his chikankari as well as his draped dresses. The ramp was exquisitely done up into a bower with fresh flowers—roses and orchids blended with the mood of the collection—and Tahiliani made sure that the evening which saw the launch of Tarun Tahiliani for FnP,a tie-up between the flower boutique chain and the designer,was an affair to remember.

Anamika Khanna’s show at Lakme Fashion Week had prepared us for the grunge-chic of her beautiful spring-summer 2010 collection,but it was a double whammy to have her alongside Ashish Soni. The latter’s collection was very minimalist,with short yoke dresses,single panel jackets suits,peg trousers,high waist pants. The silhouettes cut the volume away,giving it a masculine edginess that contrasted sharply with the essential femininity of the basket weaves,the trapeze necklines and the rosette detailing. Continuing the prolific spell was designer Rajesh Pratap Singh’s elegant show wherein he sent the models hurtling down to the tune of Zombie by rock band Cranberries in sleek jackets,a stylish take on en’s dinner jackets. The presentation was equally imaginative—five sturdy pillars were erected on the runway. Singh experimented with structure,a simple black jacket erupted into a succession of folds and the Swarovski studded leggings earned a nod by Dior representative Kalyani Chawla.