HAUTE KITSCH

As five designers experiment with items of daily use, steel, LCD screens and wine corks get a chic makeover
Designers Hemant Sagar and business partner Didier Lecoanet have never been the ones to toe the line. They have worked with pineapple and banana fibres, Chinese porcelain and even chocolates. One of their most endurable collections launched in India a few seasons back used recycled plastic collected from the streets of Delhi for chic jackets, dresses and trousers. For this season, the two are going a step forward. They are working on a men’s collection which comes with plastic accoutrements like trims, collars, cuffs and pockets. The non-PVC frosted plastic is being imported from Italy and are thick enough to lend it to stylisation. “I like my collections to have continuity, which is why we chose plastic again and decided to do it a little differently. The entire effect is very chic, which is what, in the end, fashion needs to be,” he says.

When fashion students Varun Jaisingh and Vijay Pawar were sent to the avant-garde section of the World of Wearable Art contest in New Zealand this year, they came up with an abbreviated bikini top and a patent leather skirt, teamed with knee-length leather boots. What’s surprising? The skirt came fitted with a CCTV camera at the back while the top had a LCD screen which showed whatever was going on behind the model’s back. “We wanted to play on the concept of optical illusion, on how the body was transparent ,” says 23-year-old Jaisingh. The circuit behind the screen was removed, an acrylic shade added to ensure that the outfit didn’t get too hot, the UPS and wires went into the handbag. The two are awaiting the results of the contest, due this month.

Stainless steel has never had it so good. First, it got a fancy makeover for home accessories and utensils and now it’s set to enter your wardrobe. Designers Rahul Jain and Gunjan Arora of Sirali have come up with a range of evening wear that combines steel threads with soft fabrics like satin or silk. “We have used very thin strands of steel and blended them in a way that’s not coarse to touch,” says Rahul. The duo have created saris, jackets and dresses from the synthesis. To hit Putumayo stores across Europe next week, wait till December to get your hands on this unique apparel.

If we are talking kitsch, who cannot forget the maverick designer who sparked off the trend? Even as Manish Arora gets set to unveil his spring-summer collection ‘09 at the Paris Fashion Week, his fall collection ‘08 has hit the stores. The rich pastiche of warrior influences—from samurais to gladiators to knights—has come alive through his use of elements like mail coats, armours, masks, even shoulder and knee pads. Arora has effortlessly married Swarovski crystals to mesh and metal, and Micky Mouse and other Walt Disney influences to full breastplates of steel etched with copper carvings.

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