After a promising day 1, Blender’s Pride Fashion Tour’s Day 2 had generated high expectations already. It began with Vikram Phadnis’s show, his collection being inspired from Vivacity and joie de vivre, the very celebration of life. Black, white, beige, ivory, red and gold were used in perfect combinations to create aesthetically pleasing ethnic outfits. The hem borders were high and broad. Velvet was used in plenty. However, the collection had an overall serious mood rather than that of “vivacity”. Black-ivory-red is the Sabyasachi color palette, though not monopolised by him- Vikram’s collection somewhere down the line reminded us of the Sabyasachi dress code.
Vikram’s showstopper Malaika Arora walked the ramp, wearing a pink lehenga with blue velvet blouse. A sheer pink dupatta with gold work on the border added to the appeal.
Neeta Lulla’s collection was coquettish and vintage. Her show made us time-travel to the 20’s and 30’s when girls had a bob, dark red lips and maxi dresses and skirts in pastel shades. Nudes, indigo blue, oyster pink, and greens dominated the collection, giving it a very refined look of subtle elegance. Uneven cuts, cylinder-shaped outlines and draping, and with a dash of shimmer, the ensembles grew in our hearts. All-in-all, FMW loved the vintage feel of the assortment. Not many Indian designers have done vintage with so much exuberance.
Kalki Koechlin, Neeta’s show stopper wore a bedazzling beige tunic over a beige skirt. Her hair was tied in a vintage bob and make-up seemed minimalistic with the major point of focus being the dark red lips.
As the night was almost about to end, JJ Valaya’s show began its course. His collection “Maharaja of Madrid” is a fusion between Indian sensibilities (Maharaja) and Spanish culture (Madrid). The ensembles had a touch of royalty yet vivacity of tomato tanginess. Outfits were multi-hued, with red being predominant in almost all combinations. Winter brings with it a lot of display of velvet in the collections.
Arjun Kapoor walked the ramp for JJ Valaya in a black velvet jodhpuri sherwani, in tune with the royalty of the collection. FMW loved JJ Valaya’s concept and he managed to develop it successfully into a series of beautifully, exotic outfits denoting an aesthetic mix of cultures.
On that note, the journey of Blender’s Pride Fashion Tour 2013 reached its final destination. After distributing to the many cities, a dose of art-like fashion, it’s time to bid goodbye.
Tell us which city had the best BPFT 2013 experience. Yours? xx
By: Akanksha Narang
