Manish Arora goes surprisingly Indian

Manish Arora goes surprisingly Indian

Manish Arora's shows are always fun. And the term fun here refers more to the energy that surrounds you before and during his shows, and less to his choice of cuts and trims. Last year he distributed neon-coloured stickers among the audience and this year he gave out whistles. 

Naturally, models Piya Trivedi, Indrani Dasgupta and many of his other friends from the fashion fraternity gathered at the back of the media seats and started rooting and whistling for Manish.

And why not...Manish Arora had after all dared to go 'Indian' after 10 long years. He had transformed the ramp into a traditional village-cum-street like setting with his love for Indian kitch art - painted earthen pots arranged into vertical rows, and cardboard swans, lotuses and hearts bordering the edges of the ramp. "I have used elements from my own house to give the ramp an Indian setting - the swans and the lotuses are all inspired from my home decor," said he after the show.

Collection and theme:It was in the 1990s that Manish Arora began showcasing his collection on the Indian ramp. At that time he was still in the process of experimenting his craft. Today, of course, he is by far the most internationally successful designer, not to mention the only Indian designer to be participating in the Paris Fashion Week without fail each year. With the focus on 'Indian' this year, he became a master of women's wear in both Indian and international markets. Today's collection was a balanced blend of stories from the baroque period and the Buddhist temples. Manish vision of the bride-to-be comprised traditional Indian costumes like kurtas, churidars, lehengas, bandhgalas, anarkalis and sarees.

Pattern, fabric and colour palette: Manish started off with nude colours like whites and pastels but gradually moved on to his favourite neon pinks, greens and blues. The golden colour is synonymous with the Indian bride's adornment and it was employed as a bold accent on the bright coloured backgrounds of the garments. Also, Manish has been in love with digital prints for a long time now and for today's show, he worked with geometrical lines and letters as surface textures. An extensive use of pure fabrics ranging from silk crepes, georgettes and chiffons with detailed hand-woven silk brocade work from Varanasi could be seen. The intricate handcraft in every garment beaming with enameled stones, metals, sequins, zardosi and crystals was also apparent.

One of the quirky accessories was the distinguished eye-mask that practically didn't have pores big enough to look through them. On being asked he said, "When I started out as a designer, I was greatly inspired by goddesses. The eye masks are my version of the Durga."

Choreography and music: The show made up for everything that may have gone amiss with an intelligently choreographed sequence. Given that the ramp was made to look like a circular pond, the models had to go round about it and trudge up on the center podium to pose for the shutterbugs. There was not a single glitch to complain about, thanks to a disciplined and professional group of models. For the music, the organisers simply had to insert the Gangs of Wasseypur CD and hence blared out the likes of 'Hunter' and 'Keh Ke Lunga'. "I am thankful to Anurag Kashyap for making the film. It has been my most favourite film from last year," said Manish
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