After the fashion adventure on Day 3 that ended with Arjun Khanna’s racy line up for men, on Day 4 it was back to the basics with Indian Textile Day kicking off. The opening show was skilfully curated by Mayank Mansingh Kaul and featured three top designers from Delhi, Ashdeen Lilaowala, Swati Kalsi and Gaurav Jai Gupta.

Ashdeen, who is known for his expertise on Persian hand embroidery, expressed his art through rich fabrics such as dupion, organza, georgette and jacquard to name a few. The gara motifs of chrysanthemum, flying cranes and butterflies created sartorial drama on the ramp.
Gaurav’s collection of 12 garments was a soothing combination of silk and cotton weaves in sepia and grey tones. An Orissa ikat shirt with stainless steel and hand-woven chanderi trousers and a one-length collared dress proved to be the head turners of his collection. Swati brought to the fore her mastery over the traditional Sujani technique of Bihar in languid silhouettes of tunics, dresses, coats and skirts.
Marching ahead with the desi fashion flag flying high were three designers Gaurang, Daniel Syiem and Shruti Sancheti in the pre-lunch slot. While for Daniel, it was his first showing at the LFW, Gaurang was on his third. Daniel’s debut fashion outing was a 100 per cent organic collection in a white, beige and brown colour story.
He presented loose fitted silhouettes that comprised one piece dresses, jump suits, knotted dresses and sack dresses. “I have used ryindya, a fabric from my state Meghalaya. I have kept the styling simple as I believe that’s the best way to enhance the beauty of a woman,” Daniel said. The show stealer of that slot was Gaurang Shah’s woven wonders.
The earthy tones of Kesariya Balma filled the ballroom as models walked in flaired gowns made of handloom. “I have used Kota from Rajasthan and Chikankari from UP. I have always believed that Indian textiles can be a good alternative for Western garments and I wanted to show that.”
His show was a visual splendour of floor-skimming gowns, myriad layers of fabrics for dresses, mermaid style maxis and voluminous lehengas. “I wanted to show volume through my clothes. I used 1 metre fabric for 1 inch of frills, thereby using nearly 12 metres of cloth for one silhouette,” Gaurang said. The designer had a tough time convincing his showstopper Chitrangada Singh to don a sari.
But he managed to do so and the result was a gorgeous Chitra sizzling on the ramp in a black sari with exquisite floral motifs and golden border. “Gaurang works really hard with the weavers and it took him six months to create what I am wearing,” said the actress.
Purvi Doshi’s ode to endangered species under her label Sanrakshan was an all white mulmul collection with prominent motifs, signed off by her showstopper Hazel Keech who made her maiden appearance at the fashion week. Shruti Sanchetti revived the weaves of Bengal during the British Raj in her show Swadeshi. The designer used cotton with interesting checks and stripes as a hint of the colonial flavour. Her showstopper Prachi Desai looked impressive in an ecru sari with striped borders and teamed it up with thick framed glasses. “We spend so much time in being dolled up, that this was refreshing for me. And simple fashion should never be a misfit,” she said.
Lighting up the ramp in the next show was Aditi Rao Hydari for Payal Singhal’s Taj collection aimed at the trendy summer bride. Payal too made clever use of traditional textiles and embroidery on Western silhouettes to make her line more intriguing. Farah and Firdos brought the beauty of bangles centre stage through the use of bangles as embroidery on their garments.
The sundown slots had two impressive showings by Soumitro and Vaishali S. Soumitro once again highlighted his finesse in handloom through a soothing combination of off-white and rani pink in both Indian and Western silhouettes.
Vaishali combined fabrics such as khand, khadi and mekhla in a vibrant colour story. With an impressive showing through the day, expectations were at their peak for Vikram Phadnis’s much talked-about celebration of rural India. The buzz that his show would have 30 celebrity showstoppers only added to the intrigue.