Fashionova ‘08 – The NIFT FD Show
Yesterday I attended the NIFT Fashion Design Graduation show. And I was astounded. Well-conceptualized garments, some much better than the garments I have seen at
Jyothsana Swarup's collection borrowed high ruffled necks from French royalty; had ballooning tunic silhouettes with layering and sudden tapering at the knees with stockings. Check out the neon style eye-make up by Mayank that has been in vogue on the ramp for a long time now. I feel that we should start wearing such eye-make up regularly; at least to parties!
Her collection was named ‘Similar Dilemmas’. She explains - An individual is a combination of different characters and roles. Each ensemble reflects one of the various shades of a single person – a tyrant, a saint, a troubled person, one who can hear many voices, a carefree and buoyant soul who is least bothers and enjoys life to the fullest!
I think it’s a collection that’s unwearable enough to be fashionable; and original, practical and loads of fun enough to be wearable. How do you like it?
Marilyn Thomas: The drama dress
Marilyn Thomas: Orange stockings..hmmm!
Marilyn Thomas: Fashion framed as art
Here, have a look at Vinita Adhikari's collection. The theme of the collection was 'Doodle' and I think it rocked!
Drifting away from slouchy-ness and a casual attitude, Rahul Verma designed garments "OUT OF THE BLOX". His collection was inspired by
Have a look at Rahul’s meticulous planning that went into the collection. Boxy from head to toe. Have a look at the designer’s desk.
All kinds of concepts had been explored – Out of my granny’s closet, Association between clothes and body, Travel and influences, Pop-op art, Boxy lives, Deconstruction.
Fashion planning for March
Drapes. White Cream Off-white
Bunched up cloth spreading and opening from the shoulder, over the bodice, loosely till the waist
The sufis of 'Khwaja ji' with no zips and buttons, just wraps and tie-ups
Cool, Rubbed Soft, Voluminous, ship-sail like, Arabic flowy cotton yards
An envelope of cool air, away from grime and dust even if you stood on sand dunes
Very clothed but very naked
vs
Fitting, smart skirts with a shapely butt
Snug jackets with pleats and capped sleeves - funky and street and chic
High waist fitting jeans with a smart flat front
Control, strictness, style
Firm. Eiffel tower straight. Lean and tight
Hows March going to be?
My sweatshirt, sneakers and jeans.
Drapes and skirts are too much work, too much hunting. How about an easier fashion forwarding step? Trapeze dresses and leggings. Umm.. too doll. And done. I imagine it in blinding silk and viscose. Maybe a slouchy, jersey dress. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Who will go and shop and hunt? Why is shopping so painful with helpful salespeople standing around. With clothes to select and throw over the arm and then the journey to the trial room where more disappointments than flattering surprises await. Nothing like finding the perfect silhouette, colour and style. But its a long hard joyless road. Trip abandoned.
Fashion- The Mind & Pen
Copy from a Vogue Promotion for Dom Perignon Endotheque -
"One after another, she becomes a Libertine Ingenue; a French Nurse in a postage-stamp apron, fishnet stockings and stilletos, the ideal female companion; an intimidating Businesswoman whose undergarments are as elegant as her suit is strict; a Tomboy in a man's suit and tie, with the air of a severe, ambiguous young schoolteacher; a Mysterious Adventuress with bewithcing eyes in nighttime China, wearing a long silk sheath split high up the side; a Disco Queen eloquently poured into a mini-dress that fits like a glove; Venus in Leather ready to lash out with her dominatrix's whip; and the "18th-century" Pretty Duchess, tormenting the young man with her perverse fickleness."
Personal Fashion
Still not going beyond sneakers
Latest craze: Hoodies
Bolero Hoodies
Sweater Hoodies
Shopping for it?
Naah..Too lazy
Wearing it in my head
Snug and Cosy
Slouchy and Dark-alley
Bouyant and Pugnacious
Latest accessory-
An ankle ring
To bind and keep the end of my Jeans
Away from the cycle Grease
My cycle – My new set of wheels.
NIFT Spectrum 2008
I modelled again this year. It wasn't bad at all. Got lots of compliments, but deep down inside I didn't feel beautiful at all. It was just costume drama. They had this collection with weird characters like Dracula and shit. I was Bellatrix Lestrange.
Ran into one guy whose work I really liked. Beautiful design. A beige dress with small cloth roses twisted and sewn all over the shoulder and bust area of the dress.
Another dress that I really liked was an avant-garde orange one with a very very interesting silhouette. It had uneven puffed hemlines and cloth that swooshed down stiffly from the shoulders to just above the knees. Think of an A-shaped electric orange dress with an uneven puffed hemline. It seemed to be puffed with foam rolled in at the ends. It was nothing like ordinary clothes but I could really wear that and walk around. It's so much fun mixing whims and fancies with perfectly ordinary life. There is simply no reason one should have to blend in or wear what others wear. Simply none.
Photo by ROCKY (Naveesh)
Yesterday I dropped in at the dance night at NIFT where the annual college fest called Spectrum is going on. Haven't been to college in so long. Been working at a design studio. But went yesterday. Dhruv, my friend came as well with his law school friends. He could not jump into the ecstatic and frantic crowd at all. Everyone was dancing wildly like they dance in Indian weddings - few dance moves, just shaking yourself as much as you can, limbs and pelvis and shoulders. I joined in for a bit with Corina, my German flatmate who found that it was not a dance affair where people were really interested in hooking up or lounging by the side chilling and soaking in ambience. Nothing about dance partners except for a few mushy souls. She enjoyed it. Her German friend stood on the dance floor with her handbag, elbows close to herself and felt like she could not share her amazement and bewilderment with anyone because everyone else was part of the madness. Her French boyfriend was cute though and was dancing with her and making her feel at home. An Indian guy, who didn't belong to our college, was asking me where I belonged to and said that he belonged to some place close by.
There were no third year and fourth year students. They have been there, done that and everyone prefers to go to nice clubs. Only the college fest organisers and kids were dancing and their enthusiasm and happiness was contagious 
And the best part of life - I am cycling around. Knocking my cycle into shape; not too happy with it yet; getting decent brakes put. Yet to use the most beautiful accessory I have ever received, an ankle ring to hold jeans together and keep it away from cycle grease.
Reality, Fashion and In-between
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I am sitting in the Economics class and my head is swimming. The lecturer is saying that keeping your capital and technology constant, if you draw a production curve with increasing labour, the production will increase. But after a while it remains the same because of the law of diminishing returns. And I can just think of the black leather corset that I tried on an hour ago.
I saw a 50%-80% SALE sign on a shop front, on Yonge street, and my steps involuntarily took me inside. The shop was stocked with loads of merchandise. It was the kind of shop to which cowboys, Harley Davidson riders and tomboys would go. Or sluts in front of suburban bars.
Rainy Day Fashion
Rain down on Me
And sweep me away
In scented winds
And scattered drops
Let them whiplash here and there
Let me look up heavenwards
Let the drops trickle down my throat
Down the collar
Into my printed windy dress
The abandon of the rain
The abandon of my colours
The abandon of my shape
No running away
No saving leather shoes
No scampering to the sheltered kerb
Only running, dashing, wildly spinning
Or walking with the calm of a ramp scorcher
Hands in my pockets,
Walking down with a haute the pouring rain cant cool
I called upon my sources (I will have to kill you if I tell you), my powers and a fashion stylist, editor and writer and here are five looks for this monsoon season. Here is telling you before the junta knows it!
1 Slouchy Sporty
In the summer the Kate Moss look was a rage. This look meant a long clingy jersey top over tights or leggings. The ensemble was completed with a belt strapped low over the jersey top. This look has changed into a less dressy version for the monsoon. Wear a large voluminous bubble-silhouette top over fitting shorts or capris. For those who can carry it off, really short shorts are in. More movement and prance in this look. Go for draping tops, ones with interesting folds and necklines.
2 Strawberry Frog
strawberry : pink, bright, candy
frog: translucent (Lookah at the veins under my throat skin), waterproof, pretty, glossy, rain-lover
Be a strawberry frog this monsoon. Have fun with colours and plastic. No subtleity. Its the only time in the year when even yellow Zens look pretty zipping down the road. Its a colour party.
Checklist >
Crocs - the toy like plastic footwear in yellow, orange, pink, green
Jelly sandals and slippers
Clear plastic raincoats
Chunky bangles
Neon colours
Bug eyes shades - pink, green, blue
3 Bold abstract prints
Huge prints are in. Look like a splash of colour on the street. Dresses are majorly in - Shift dresses, babydoll dresses, tent dresses. Hemlines below the knee are criminal. Let your legs be happily bare and sexy. Accessorize with chunky bangles. Its all BOLD. The prints are Pucci style - abstract and dynamic made up of swirls and organic motifs. Try a parka dress - a lil conversation with the hip-hoppers.
Here are some designs by Pucci -
4 Romantic look
A girl's gotta feel like a girl and bless the fashion mechanism, the romantic look is back! Its simple floral, pastoral dresses this monsoon to make you feel like an innocent country lass. Keep the colours light like leaf-green for a dewy fresh feeling. Says designer Anjana Bhargava "Its all about elegance, grace and femininity. This monsoon, flaunt your femininity in calf-length skirts and dresses with frills, lace, romantic necklines and puff sleeves that look girly and chic. "
5 Metallics
Yes. Its still going on. Watch out for metallic parkas, shimmering tops, shiny sportswear. Flash and glint under the sombre nimbus clouds. Break the dullness, thunder and opaque rain. The metallic look generally makes for rocking nightlife, but it can be incorporated in casuals by means of detailing like metallic strips, pockets, zippers. Its not the classic metallic of the mellow golden ages. Its the metallic of Techno Glam.
So don't get bored this monsoon. Don't weep inside your stupid raincoat for the lack of oomph and style. These are the five looks, inspiration material, green signals, imagination stimulants or simply working solutions to adopt. Last of all, a fashion tip that guarantees to transform you into a head turner - wear whites with no underwear!
Avoid
- Leather
- Ankle length skirts, pants
- Dark colours
- Socks
- Mixing looks (Strawberry frog + Metallics)