A Persian darbar at Couture Week opening

Manish Malhotra's opening act at India Couture Week, when Deepika Padukone and Fawad Khan walked the ramp in his creations

The opening night of India Couture Week (ICW), organised by the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), was all about Bollywood-favourite Manish Malhotra. His was the only show on Day 1 of the fashion event, which started in Delhi on Wednesday night. Over five nights, 11 Indian designers will unveil their collections at the country’s most celebrated couture event.
Malhotra will always be known as the designer who infused a real sense of style into Bollywood, when screen fashion was limited to hot pinks and sequins. His eponymous fashion label is turning 11 years old, and Malhotra is obviously in a mood to celebrate, as the collection he presented at Couture Week, ‘The Persian Story’ — was unapologetically decadent.
It was interesting that his use of velvet, architecture and flora inspired embroidery and heavy ?dosage of a deep maroon colour palette highly echoed the collection of Kolkata-based designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, who ? unveiled his couture collection just two days before.
While Persia was Malhotra’s inspiration, Sabyasachi’s collection — which he titled ‘Firdaus’ — took references from the Parsi community in India, who also hail from old Persia. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues at Couture Week. Featuring lengthy trails, ball gown style lenghas and oversized badla (metal) embroidery, this was a collection aimed at the modern, confident bride.
For the men, it was all about the sherwani. As for the brides, the MM woman dares to bare with slit lehengas, exposed shoulders and sheer fabrics.
The jewellery — from the Hazoorilal by Sandeep Narang collection — was all about statement, with large jadau and pearl necklaces being the favoured accompaniments to Malhotra’s grand designs. The setting too was larger than life: the Taj Palace’s Ballroom turned into a Persian garden for the night.
There is no question that Malhotra likes to keep up the grandeur in his collections, but then, his background is Bollywood. And like every magnum opus film, this presentation required a little bit of editing towards the end of show — it seemed repetitive as 50 outfits took centre stage. But then, all was forgiven when the stunning Deepika Padukone took to the ramp.
Malhotra is incomplete without representation from Bollywood, and Deepika, who started her career as a model, was truly the star of the night. She has such presence that the audience almost failed to notice that accompanying her on the ramp was actor Fawad Khan.
Next up at ICW are Mumbai’s Anita Dongre and Delhi’s Tarun Tahiliani, both of whom have decided to opt out of the showstopper route, and make their clothes the stars of their collections.
sujata@khaleejtimes.com