Mystical Mumbai Lakme Fashion Week
Mystical Mumbai Lakme Fashion Week
(NEW YORK) Imagine if, say, at the end of Oscar de la Renta’s show, the lights dim for a beat and then suddenly loud music blares, and Julia Roberts sashays down the runway. At Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai this celebu-moment is called the “Showstopper” and any catwalk worth its rubies concludes with a big Bollywood star hitting the “ramp” (what Indians call the runway) to screams and uproarious clapping. It’s the equivalent of a cricket star hitting a home run. Without a cinematic Showstopper, it’s like the fashion show didn’t even happen. Sure, the front row is stocked with stars seated across from editors like Bandana Tewari and Priya Tanna of Vogue India and IMG’s Fern Mallis. But the crowd wants to see their stars model for the supper. “Indians love their celebrities,” explains IMG’s Nikram Singh. “They love celebrities here more than they do in America.”
It’s the 10-year anniversary of Lakme Fashion Week. Designers and divas are out in full force. “Fashion Week has evolved,” says style journalist Vinod Nair, the group fashion editor of the Hindustan Times who is like the Cathy Horyn of Bombay. “The designers have evolved. It’s growing bigger and bigger every year.”
DAY ONE:
Anand Kabra
Titled “Kumari” for the two faces of a woman–goddess and tempest–Anand Kabra’s collection races from white asymmetrical shirts hung loose over stone colored pants to big time bling, like the silver and gold sunray striped jeweled cocktail dress worn by a model with a spray of red paint on her forehead. But Kabra’s clean, Zen-like daywear is the reason he was voted “Best Emerging Designer” at the 2008 Marie Claire Awards in India.
Lakme & IMG Celebrate 10 Years of Fashion, Presented by Samira Habitats
To toast 10 years of Lakme Fashion Week, 20 “Grand Finale” designers (the last designer each season stages a lavish, fantasy runway spectacle) present an enormous show with looks from the past, the present and the future. The thrill is seeing all 20 designers on one stage, everyone from eveningwear king Tarun Tahiliani to traditionalist Manish Malhotra to Varun Bahl, who shows a pair of Lurex bubble shorts as a “future” look.
DAY TWO: Read more
