Wills India fashion Week 2011 begins in style

While a total of 115 designers will showcase their collections at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Spring Summer 2011, to be held at Pragati Maidan till October 23, the venue for the eevnt is the biggest ever for WIFW till date.

The five-day fashion extravaganza kicked off with a show by designer Anand Kabra which transported the audience to the Hyderabadi era.

The old city surrounding Charminar became the literal translation for the textures and embellishments in Kabra’s spring summer collection with brush strokes and pochampalli weaves lifting their interpretations from the peeling walls and fading tiles of the crumbling havelis in and around the ‘phool mandi’.

The facade of Charminar and its trellises revisited an earlier era in sepia beaded embroidery and burnt zardozi.

Decadence and indulgence, fantasy and reality, sophistication and seduction, dilapidation and luxury engaged in a play-off between enriched malkhas and matt brush – stroked lurex, embellished raw kora and tie-dyed taffeta, grunged pochampalli cottons and sheer bright georgettes.

While languid wide leg pants and shararas, kurti cholis and dresses, sherwanis and jackets, wrap ‘lungi’ skirts and lehengas defined an indulgent and sophisticated silhouette, references to the bird cage grill and seduction emerged through the ‘haath ki jali’ seam joints on the garments, and subtle ‘corsetry’, ‘string’ play and transparency.

The designer’s collection, called ‘Mandi’, has a strong international look that goes into an aesthetic Indian look as well, with a lot of dresses, trousers, tunics, wraps and add-on blazers thrown in.