In the 1970s, it was synonymous with the working man’s outfit. But if you thought jumpsuits were just plebeian coveralls for a plumber that a young YSL made fashionable, remember it hasn’t gone to grave with the fashion icon. The coming season will see the retro outfit making a comeback like never before — and this time, it’s hardly going to be a no-frills attire. For her show at the Lakme Fashion Week this year, Asmita Marwah dressed up in a flirty yellow jumpsuit with flared pants and a short, fitted top. “Ideally, it’s suited for a person who is tall and has a lean body structure, but for someone like me, who is only of average height, it works quite as well, with a bit of restructuring,” says the Hyderabad-based designer.

Accordingly, her collection has a range of jumpsuits with what she calls “elephant pants” — a takeoff of shararas — while the tops resemble regular jumpsuit uppers. “I worked on the theme of a whirling dervish and the flares worked for the theme,” she says.

Marwah’s boho chic also comes from using fabrics like mulmuls and handwoven silks.

Delhi-based designers Hemant Lalwani and Nandita Raipurani too have used the jumpsuit to put forward their eclectic design sensibility. The two have come up with a shorter version of the jumpsuit as well as full-length variations.

Besides handpainting the pants, the duo have also generously used elements like silver and gold dabka work on the collars, and pintucks and flares on the pants. “We wanted to fuse Indian elements with a western silhouette and this worked beautifully,” says Raipurani.

... contd.