The Lakme Fashion Week — Summer/Resort 2012, took off to a flying start with a promising bunch of six GenNext designers presenting an impressive boutique. The six young guns took on various facets of design and presented their individual style statements through their creations. Debashri Samanta, a young designer from West Bengal emphasised on weaves and called her collection The Black Swan.

Using only handloom cottons, the sharply cut jackets, tops and stylish bottom wear were enhanced with kantha stitch, the delicate craft of West Bengal. Karishma Jamwal brought prints to the forefront with Lotus Sutr that blended kitschy silhouettes of tunics, skirts and tubes with digital and block prints. Ragini Ahuja’s Brute was a striking medley of Origami on chanderi fabrics and flat silk chiffons. The detailing inspired by Turkish pottery and Persian rugs was striking.
Next up was Shubham Kumar’s Shubh that stood out among his counterparts in their fine balance of wearablity and innovation. The label titled India Lives Here highlighted the earthy lifestyle of rural India weaved in contemporary silhouettes. Shubam’s experiments with contstruction and style were seen in the collared sleeveless top with flared pleated trouser, a one-piece knotted dress and circular capes made of threads. Sneha Saha’s dyeing and stain techniques created a visual colour story on the ramp in unconventional techniques like the Japanese etajimi, Shibori and Indonesian batik.
Stephany D’Souza’s breezy resort line was aimed at the beachcomber. Working with seductive sheers like silk, georgette and crepe, the designer played around with tunics, midis, trousers and capes in bright shades of electric turquoise, fuschia and tangerine.
All the six designers were mentored by ace stylist Aki Narula. “I feel like a proud parent presenting my six babies. I am very impressed with the new talents in the industry,” he said.
Each one of them has an expression of their own and a very promising career in front of them.” The designers will also have a chance to retail their creations on Zovi.com, thereby boosting business. Manish Chopra, CEO of the website, said, “The designs will be priced around `1100 to `1400, which is sure to attract customers.” Designers Asmita Marwa and Narendra Kumar opened the afternoon slot with yet another promising collection. Asmita’s Moon Magic was a reflection of the Bohemian woman in a dreamy collage of Japanese floral prints, patch-work jackets and old pieces of mirrorwork.
Stopping the show for Asmita was Shriya Saran, in an ink jumpsuit with a flowing printed dupatta. Up next, Nari’s Thought Police was high on drama with a human barricade of nearly 30 policemen surrounding the ramp from all sides, while the models strolled in between. Although the concept, inspired by the awakening of the youth was intriguing, it fell flat due to sloppy choreography. The police barricade blocked views on either side of the ramp, overshadowing the designs. However, the little that could be seen highlighted Nari’s finesse with silhouettes and summery colours in jackets, trousers, shrugs, and high waists. Debarun Mukherjee’s Be You was headlined by colourful striped fabrics in very wearable shorts, ganjees, tank tops, notted tops, maxi dresses and sheath dresses. He painted the ramp yellow and signed off the show with actor Sahil Anand.