khaleej times Friday, April 24, 2009
FASHION
18
TheCreativeSpark
High style meets sari sensibilitiess Stephanie Rivers rs
T
he Wills and Lakme Fashion Weeks are always a particular treat, as they are a wonderful marriage of creativity and showmanship. Here, designers such as Manish Arora, known for inventive shows, vibrant colours and embroidery, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, sought after for his modern silhouettes, and usage of unusual fabrics, along with Manish Malhotra, loved for his sense of modernity and drape, embrace their countrymen and weave an alluring fashion tale. As expected, partly due to popularity and partly due to being in India, a familiar refrain from the Slumdog Millionaire theme song, Jai ho, was heard wafting over the airwaves. The song eloquently summed up the enduring spirit and pride of Indian designers and their handiwork. Here, no design would be considered clichéd and passé, nor would the fabric usage and colour coordination be considered too garish or somewhat extreme, critiques often found abroad in Europe or America. Nor is there the pressure to conform — gone are the constant worries of the bottom line, again issues often associated with showing abroad. Here the adage of “when in Rome, do as the Romans do...” is the perfect metaphor. Designer Manish Arora wove a jungle-theme this time around, straying far from his Cirque d’Hiver circusthemed Spring/Summer 2009 show in Paris. Playing to the crowd, he sent out mythical creatures whipped up in confections inspired by The Lion King. There were deer heads with antlers, and horns protruding from bodices, even parakeets and a monkey or two sauntering by, in the form of handbags and shoulder accessories. But, of course, Manish being Manish, that was not quite the end of the tourde-fashion-force. Three-dimensional butterflies and flowers, elaborate lace, sculptural shoulders, bat-wing sculpted hair that would have given even Bruce Wayne a run for his wingedavenger money, and eyewear that resembled a genetically morphing Jeff Goldblum in the sci-fi flick The Fly. Insect theatrics aside, Arora’s designs always belie his deft handiwork with embroidery, drape and tailoring. The 3-D concept and sculptural Photos above: Manish Malhotra pieces, in particular, show in part why
Photos from clockwise: Manish Arora
he has been able to make the leap to international design star while many other designers are still struggling to do so. He, like many American and European designers, shows two lines, his main couture-inspired line Manish Arora, and his very successful Fish Fry line, which is also a style concept shop. It is through Fish Fry that he has gained international popularity, as well as securing many partnership deals. He has had successful partnerships with MAC, Reebok and Swatch, with many more in the pipeline for 2009-2010. Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s show at Lakme Fashion Week took us on a fantastical journey weaving together the rustic aesthetics of India, its textiles, with folklore and a touch of 80s modernity. His woman was confident in her melding of two worlds, two cultures. At a time when other designers where scaling back, feeling more sombre, well, outside India anyway, Sabyasachi went full throttle. He worked a Grey Gardens’ Edie Bouvier Bealeturbaned magic paired with tieredfolksy dresses, opulent strands of oversized pearls, topped with classic Indian tunics. He used the sari as his springboard, playing with its many iterations —
from the traditional draping to the more updated shorter version Chottu-approach with insets in the pleating and exposed net petticoats. There weretaperedcoats,akintotheEnglish waistcoats with rolled collars, as well as buttonless coats worn over layers of tunics, sheer net palazzo pants, head wraps worn with strapless tops, traditional saris layered over longsleeved collared shirts, accompanied by modern gladiator heels, wedgeheeled pumps, and stacks of wooden bracelets, a continuing trend from S/S 2009. Sabyasachi gave us modern takes on kanjaris and a sexy twist on the sharara, worn sheer with fabric strips. His fabrics took the audience on jaunts throughout India, reminding us all of its beauty and vital necessity to its fashion business. Manish Malhotra took a very modern, athletic turn to his designs this season with a healthy dose of the motherland thrown in. This Bollywood makeover king worked in a colour palette of sherbert hues, gold shimmer and black, with hints of a lovely sky blue, cream and a deep, rich chocolate brown thrown in. Malhotra took us on an athletic-inspired journey for evening with gold shim-
mer and black cropped ped sports tops and cropped pants, updating pdating us with h variations on the choli olii — some in the form of halter tops, others with three-quarter er balloon sleeves, floor-sweeping ing lehengas with ornate, embroidered ered Bollywood touches, and embellished bellished modernised kurtas. There were splashess of hooded gold cholis, jumpsuits, its, draped pants and short-shorts, ts, all with his classic embroidery and nd embellishments thrown in. Manish took the audience’s heartbeat up a notch, by providing a touch of heartthrob eartthrob lust, in the form of Bollywood lywood royalty, Shah Rukh ‘King’ Khan. n. Khan strutted down the runway along with other male models in three-button ree-button jackets, velvet coats, classic ssic sherwanis, and kurtas paired with Patiala salwars. There were Western athletic-inspired thletic-inspired pieces for men as well in the form of tees, bermudas, open en collar shirts, exposing bare chests ts with scarfwrapped necks. As Lakme Fashion Week came to an end, it reflected all that is beautiful and inspiring about both fashion and India, letting this reporter rter know that this show is one that is hard to beat. stephanie@khaleejtimes.com
Photo above: Manish Malhotra
SayingItWithFlowers Olivier Dolz’s floral arrangements have a true haute couture air about them. Catering to the affluent and beyond, Dolz tells us why it is so Jethu Abraham
T
he delicate floral and crystal combination on one of the centre tables in the Dolz suite speaks volumes of the opulence, which the Dolz brand represents. Even while the region is getting used to the term ‘floral designer’, Dolz ,who has been in the region since the past two years, has already made his mark. Exclusive florists to renowned names
likeTheAddressHotel,PalaceOldTown aswellasbusinessgiantslikeCartierand Mont Blanc, the group which caters to floral designs for weddings, and venue decoration is quickly gaining popularity with the niche clientele of the city. “We have 20 florists basically from FranceaswellasthePhilippines.Wehave five master florists, two of whom have a universal ranking that ranges between oneandfiveintheindustry.Ourcreations can be seen in the Address hotel as well as the Palace old town where we do the lobbies,theroomsandtherestaurants.Ihave three florists in these hotels seven days a week through out the year and we change thedesigneveryweek,”saysDolz. Still curious to know how a floral designer is different from the ordinary guywhofixesupaquickcombinationof stems for you, I prod the man to go on. A telecom engineer by profession, Dolz followed his heart but still maintains that it is a combination of his technical skills as well as his passion that proved
successful, a reason why he feels every good floral designer needs to come from a different background. “The creativity depends on where you are from. I am a floral designer but amalsoworkingasatelecomengineer.I knowhowtodesignfibrechannelsfrom England to India as this was something I learnt but I also design gowns, events and floral bouquets as this is what I love to do and what comes naturally to me,” he says. Hethinksforawhilebeforeheaddson to a floral designer’s traits “a good deal of travelling, shopping and observation as well” and then maintains strongly that those are the most important traits. “When we travel, we are more open to ideas, we see more things and that becomes our inspiration,” adds Dolz. Having installed 20,000 vases in the UAE, Dolz has clearly marked his clientele in the high end category and as would be normally expected with the league, he does customisation but
with a difference. “I never remake a creation. Once I make a design, I never do it again. It goes to the trash. That is why we are unique and why people like to have us do their weddings because then they know that there would never be a repeat. Even if the client wants a repeat, we don’t do it. We can’t. That’s the way we work,” states Dolz. That is not all. For every client who meets him, the group goes back to the client’s residence, tries to understand theirlifestyle,theirlikesandwherethey come from so as to know their tastes and suit their clientele needs better. Evidently, there are no compromises for their after-service either as Dolz cites an example of how one of his master florist visit the Cartier showroom every single day to ensure that the vases are clean and well maintained. “We represent luxury and luxury represents us,” states Dolz with a style that is unmistakeably Couture. jethu@khaleejtimes.com Dolz among his creations
KT Photo: Rahul Gajjar