Relegating heavy embroidered lehenga to a backseat, models sashayed in delicate and intricate designs on the second day of the India Beach Fashion Week. Designers tell Rupinder Kaur that the modern bride wants to be free, casual and wishes to enjoy her day rather than be bogged down by the weight of heavy outfits
The beach might be the new ramp with designers bringing out the sexy in you with their boho chic flowy resort wear collections with the seaside, the beaches and the sand as their inspiration. But sacred vows are also what the modern-day women/brides are looking forward to commit to with their partners for eternity at the destination. An intimate or a grand ceremony where the bride doesn’t sit still and look pretty while being weighed down by her elaborate ensemble is the motto of the designers. Creating or re-creating the traditional wear, not just for the brides but also her family and friends, with the designers signature elements to added to suit the beachy affair is what we witnessed.
After experiencing the pre-possessing sight of bridal attire at the second edition of the Indian Beach Fashion Week through Anupamaa Dayal’s vivacious Swayamavar collection, Arzan Shad’s elegant works titled Baari, Mayyur R Girotra’s 50s inspired Destination Brides to Shilpa Reddy’s ethereal Sleepless Blue Waters, we know that the Indian bride would continue to dazzle in much more delicate and intricately-designed outfits.
New-age, modern, free-spirited, well-informed, et al. were the words that continued to echo when the designers were asked about their ideal bride.
With shows back-to-back, we took out some time to visit stalls displaying the creations of the designers and caught up with Mumbai-based Arzan Shad and his sister Saniya. The 20-year-old undergraduate created his own clothing line after honing his designing skills under the aegis of his two sisters and their mother.
“You have an idea but you need someone to help you start with the process and they helped me with it. I was good with designing and they were good with the technical part,” Shad shared.
Through his ethnic collection Baari (Punjabi for window), he showcased designs like exquisitely patterned kurtas with appliqué, mukaish and elaborate thread-work in pastel hues paired with palazzos, vivid gold-embroidered lehengas with low-back cholis and so on.
“I saw a few paintings at an art gallery of old-styled windows in the old Punjabi havelis with floral climbers and creepers and that was the inspiration,” he explained.
Rich summer fabrics like cotton silk, georgette and Chanderi are what the designer worked with. “We used a lot of natural cotton silks which has a shine of silk and the wearability of cotton. Since it’s about destination weddings, the fabric has to be durable,” Shad stressed.
The modern bride, according to the duo, is very interactive in her own wedding. “There was a time where a bride would be sitting on a stage looking pretty and the guests would come meet her, get a picture clicked and move. Now, it’s changing. People are going for destination weddings with just a close set of people who are not there to judge the way she speaks or walks. The bride wants to be herself, dance herself silly and not be bogged down because of a heavy lehenga. If you see our outfits from a distance, they look heavy but weigh around one-two kilos,” they said.
Saniya shared that Shad doesn’t experiment much with his cuts because he feels “that a woman should walk in to the store and say that ‘I can wear this’. Any woman with whatever body type can get into the outfit she likes. If a 17-year-old girl wants to wear a particular dress or even a 40-year-old woman opts for the same, they’ll look equally pretty. Even my colour palette suits the complexion of the Indian woman.”
Unlike other designers who call the clients form the Middle-East as their major buyers, Shad told us, “India is a very strong market. We do have a lot of clients from Dubai because many of them have a base in Mumbai and Delhi. The buyers there are Indians who migrated. North Indians, of course, opt for our designs and even in South India, women love wearing suits. The price depends on the kind of work that goes on the outfits.”
Another Mumbai-based designer Dimple Shroff, with her Corazon de oro (Spanish for heart of gold) collection, designed while keeping the ‘new-age’ bride in mind. “All the garments are gold dominant and are not extremely heavy in weight. It is Indian in its own way but has an international appeal to it. My new age bride is well-travelled, well-informed — she basically knows who she is. She is not looking for a partner who will take care of her but one, only for companionship,” she shared. She explored designs like lehengas with capes, jackets, saree gowns, pencil skirts with a choli, in the hues of camel, beige, gold, pink, et al. with elaborate sequin works.
The designer opted for thread work, mirror-cut work and sequins instead of heavy embroideries or stones yet managed to make it look scintillating, especially with the hot pink tie and dye lehenga with a sequin sheet at the bottom. “At first, it seemed like we were designing for the bride’s sisters or bridesmaids. But then when these women came in, they said that they’ll definitely wear it on their wedding day or during ceremonies. People usually look for a lot of embellishments, but this was surely surprising and that is how today’s bride is,” explained Shroff, who looked ravishing in red.
Again, the idea is not to make the garment a one-time wear. The designer told us that the separates like jackets and tubes can also be paired to create another great ensemble.
“A jacket which a client got designed with a lehenga, she later wore over a jumpsuit. The choli and cape can be paired with a pencil skirt as well,” she said.
They have a lot of clientele in Dubai, she told us. “We do a lot of exhibitions over there and maintain a one-on-one relationship with them. They ask us for pictures of the outfits and we customise according to their taste. It is not a very price-sensitive market; people are very experimental and want new styles. So it is a very good market. Even Mumbai is a great place to sell,” Shroff added quoting the range of her collection which starts from `12,500 to `45,000.
Even designer Sangeeta Sharma with her Bliss of Royalty made sure that the ensembles can be paired to create a “funky fusion”. “My bridal wear is not just a one-time wear. The choli with the lehenga, for example, can be used as a crop top or the saree can we work with a shirt,” she said. Deep hues of blue, turquoise, pink and red from Rajasthan were matched with mellow shades of sky, sea and palms on raw, Chinese and crépe silk, georgette, velvet, lycra and cotton. The line featured asymmetric silhouettes in ‘A’ line dresses, sheaths, princess cuts and drapes, further enhanced by bandhani, leheriya, zari, dabka, zardozi and thread work along with pearl embellishments. “I don’t want her to be burdened by the thought of carrying a heavy lehenga. It is her day and I believe in designing outfits in which she would feel comfortable in and carry off with ease. She has to be happy. Even clients have the same request. They want it to be light and subtle with less embroidery on rich fabrics so that they stand out,” she shared.