Sunday night was perhaps the most emotionally charged evening in the history of India’s fashion week, ending with a standing ovation for designer and couturier Rohit Bal for the grand finale of Lakme Fashion Week, held in partnership with the Fashion Design Council of India.
Tears flowed freely as designers, models and old friends watched the delicate designer escort her to the ramp after a spectacular display of her easily recognizable motifs. Full-length, flowing, tiered, layered outfits and a long-time favorite, roses, are loose and wild on dresses.
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Months of poor health leading up to this show caused the fashion community to unite in unexpected ways to support the designer popularly known as Gudda.
The music was poignant and bittersweet, with a heartbreaking violin rendition, as guests settled into their seats at the Imperial Hotel, a rare venue for a fashion event with a history of elegance, located on Janpath in the heart of the city. The show, which many viewers said was an unexpected end to fashion week, was very lively with its upbeat pop hits.
“It was nostalgia, love, curiosity and appreciation for Gudda standing by the fashion fraternity for so many years; The inspiration it evokes, the sadness of seeing him so frail, and the absolute joy of getting back to what he loves, giving us a completely unexpected perspective on his creativity,” a fashion designer friend told WWD.
Gudda blew kisses to the audience, hugged Ananya Panday, the famous entertainer and face of beauty brand House of Lakme, and stopped to dance to the ongoing music even as she wrapped up the sale of her Kaaynaat: A Bloom in the Universe collection. . The collection itself was recognisably Rohit Bal in its glory. Bal has long been known for his bravery; overall unapologetic and straightforward with vibrant and loud motifs. This time there were twirling capes, bringing with them a sense of celebration and life.
Bal said about his collection: “Kaaynaat was a journey into the wonders of nature, celebrating the bloom of life and beauty.”
He was accompanied on stage by two powerful names who have come together to organize fashion weeks together in recent years: Reliance Brands Ltd. Jaspreet Chandhok, group vice president, and Sunil Sethi, president of the Fashion Design Council of India, who brought new fashion design. It is the period when fashion weeks come together with Lakme Fashion Week in partnership with FDCI, which is the calendar space shared between Mumbai at the beginning of the year and New Delhi in the second half.
Talking about the finale, Chandhok simply said, “We have been watching its finale for many years and this time there were a lot of variables involved. We had to be sensitive about his health. “It was all very emotional.”
This season also saw the emergence of many designers who are clearly on the radars of fashion observers and buyers, emerging through the early stages of growing fame, awards and boundary-breaking.
Aneeth Arora, Pero
Easily summed up by some as quirky and experimental, by others as being about fabrics and textiles, Péro tackled a variety of worlds.
“We’ve always been able to appeal to both of our markets,” the brand’s founder Aneeth Arora told WWD. “We also have people who protect our classic fabrics. “There is always a new theme and variety for the experimental.”
Péro means “to wear” in Marwari, the local language of Rajasthan.
“Over the last 15 years, we have understood the subtleties required to be on par with other fabrics. We started working with Gujarat wool with a simple example; We got feedback that it was too coarse and then we started inventing the yarn. The same goes for kullu wool; Once the right type of wool is used, it is processed. “We find what is traditional and handmade and find ways to make it innovative,” he said.
Arora, which currently retails in 25-30 stores in India and 35 countries around the world, is modest about the type of retail the brand reaches. “Most of the stores we’re in are very niche stores, world-class boutique stores, tucked away in resorts where people are looking for curated options,” he said. He also does not ignore large retailing: “If there are large retailers and they carry luxury, it would be good to be there,” he said, talking about the intense process of hand weaving and handmade products. “Just because the prices are high, it doesn’t become a luxury. A lot of effort goes into it, which makes it luxurious.” The brand has more than 300 employees working directly in the field of weaving and embroidery from all over the country, and more than 3,000 indirectly.
This time, the brand attracted attention with a fashion show held off-site to celebrate its 50th anniversary in collaboration with the Japanese company Sanrio, as the opening fashion show of the fashion week.This It’s Hello Kitty’s birthday, joining celebrations around the world.
About the collection that set the tone for fashion week, he said: “Péro always had a bit of nostalgia and playfulness in everything we did because we knew we had to do it justice. The perception of Hello Kitty is that it’s about kids, we made women’s and men’s clothing; it’s in all of us.” I feel like he’s a kid looking for an element of fun. We put it on a plate.
Ritwik Khanna, Rkive City
Ritwik Khanna’s two-year-old label Rkive City won the Circular Design Competition, one of the highlights of the second day of fashion week.
This challenge has various partners, from Reliance Industries Limited’s new generation fabric brand R|Elan and the United Nations in India to global organizations such as the British Council, Istituto Marangoni and Redress.
What set it apart was not just its brand story but also its clarity and vision.
“This was the brand’s first catwalk show, I was walking looking down, I didn’t know how to work the ramp,” Khanna said, describing the anxiety and happiness that ensued. “I felt confident about our outfits, our casting, presenting the creations in front of the judges and being able to talk to people who could really cross-examine you, who knew that it was really important to work for circularity.”
Khanna studied fashion business at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and returned to India during the pandemic. He became interested in textile waste and studied its potential and consequences. “We are addressing a major textile waste problem, treating textile waste and collaborating with studies that create social impact; “Nothing we did was for competition.”
Khanna opened his first store in March. “This came as a place of discovery,” he explained. A studio with a workshop behind it, the Indian market is very important to us and is at the heart of it; India knows how to deal with waste, there is a change in the narrative now with fast fashion.”
Ankur Verma, Til
Ankur Verma was already on the radar but has emerged stronger this season after winning The Spotlight by Nexa. Her innovative, textured designs, which focus on how fashion has become a compelling storytelling tool, stood out in the awards showcase.
“I was exploring layers, textures, patterns and colors, uncovering masked mirages and how they create layers of emotion,” he explained. Her background of working in theatre, studying art and attending the National Institute of Fashion Technology in Kolkata, followed by four and a half years of experience working with fashion maestro Sabyasachi, set the tone for the brand. Combining all these experiences resulted in a peculiar style of his own.
Shortlisted in the new designers category at fashion week two years ago, this was Verma’s fifth collection; her brand is three years old and has featured 42 looks this season. The brand is stocked in multi-brand stores in India and a few stores internationally, including Singapore and London. As Sunil Sethi describes, “there were diverse and innovative presentations from participants across the country,” but Til stole the show. “We loved seeing her collection come to life on the catwalk, inspiring a new wave of designers to shape the future of fashion,” he said.
Others described his collection as “honest and personal”; just like Verma describes the experience.
“It wasn’t fashion week, it was very personal. Just like at the end of Rohit Bal’s fashion show… everyone was there for Rohit, not for fashion week.”
Did he shed tears too?
“Everyone cried,” he said. “I too shed tears of happiness like a child seeing those roses and white, flowing dresses; we grew up seeing his styles emerge, and there was something larger than life here.
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