The Lakme Fashion Week 2015!

India just finished the fashion festival of the year, The Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) (winter-festive) 2015. The fashion week is like an annual examination for the designers to showcase their creativity and talent not only to the elite guests in the front row but also millions of spectator’s world-wide.

Getting to participate in the LFW is like winning a scholarship for the new emerging designers (21 designers debuted this season). They get a chance to showcase their creation with the veterans of fashion world like Manish Malhotra, Namrata Joshipura, Ritu Kumar, Tarun Tahiliani, Neeta Lulla, Narendra Kumar Ahmed, etc.

The other day it so happened I overheard a conversation between two women talking about Manish Malhotra in LFW and how Kareena chose to walk the ramp for some other designer and not her favorite Malhotra. We know there are lots of people out there who would love to look fashionable like their fav Bollywood heroines (since they are Bollywood crazy) but are not really updated with the fashion that our designers bring to us. There’s more to a garment and designs and the fashion week than just the designer wear showcased by the Bollywood and modelling biggies. But coming back to the discussion of the ladies, Kareena wouldn’t\couldn’t have worn Manish’s creation even if she wanted to because Manish Malhotra’s introduced his first-ever menswear show titled ‘The Gentlemen’s Club’ in this LFW. And while not Kareena than the other charming Kapoor in the family, RK (Ranbir Kapoor), was the show stopper for Mr. Malhotra and walked down the ramp with equal panache and aplomb.

Manish Malhotra, known for being a Bollywood favorite especially the women, finally gave something for the men to look stylish in. “The Gentlemen’s Club collection (the name itself sounds so sophisticated) is a festive fusion of Indian and Western couture, focusing on shades of emerald green and adorned with botanical motifs,” said Malhotra.

Apart from Malhotra, the other notable mention was Anita Dongre’s maiden show for her new label ‘Grassroot’ which was a craft-based sustainable line. It showcased a versatile range of wardrobe essentials for women’s advanced attitude of accepting and embracing the modernity while keeping the traditions of India. She participated on the second day which was dedicated to The Indian Handloom & Textile Day. LFW was riding high on our PM Shri Narendra Modiji’s ‘Make in India’ and ‘Incredible India’ vision by promoting the Indian handloom with a special initiative – ‘Re-invent Banaras’ – a campaign to revive, uplift and celebrate Banaras handlooms in partnership with India’s leading designers.

Some of the desginers like Anand Kabra, Arjun Saluja, Nachiket Barve, Nikasha, Ruchika Sachdeva, Eina Ahluwalia, whose fashion journey started with LFW as a platform, showcased their collection after a very long time.

We also saw Ace designer duo Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla’s collection titled ‘Jawani Jaaneman’. The line was an ode to the retro chic era with designs inspired from the 1970s and 1980s. Then there was Monisha Jaising who after the gap of 5 years showcased her collection and marked her entry into the e-comm sector. This is also the 25^th year of Monisha’s fashion journey.

Since we started our article with Kareena Kapoor, we are also going to end our article with the ever so beautiful Mrs. Kareena Kapoor Khan who brought the curtains down at Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2015, walking down the ramp for designer Gaurav Gupta in a black flowing sheer gown, a piece from the designer’s collection, which was in tandem with Lakme’s Sculpt line.

(Watch this space for ‘the tips we got’ from this year’s LFW Winter 2015)

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