Designer extraordinaire Manish Malhotra is set to showcase his stellar collection ‘Ruhaaniyat’ at the opening show of Lakmé Fashion Week 2020 Digital First Season Fluid Edition. Manish Malhotra and Lakmé Fashion Week have partnered to support artisans through a fund-raising opening show presentation. The collection, a tribute to all the artisans and craftsmen of India, celebrates 10 years of the designer’s association with the Mijwan Foundation.
Talking about the collection and upcoming virtual showcase, Manish Malhotra said, “Ruhaaniyat is my tribute to all the artisans and craftsmen of our country who have left the fingerprints of their art onto our heritage culture. It's about the eternal soul of the craft from two culturally rich regions (vibrance of Punjab and nazakat of Awadh) and how it continues to live on even today.”
About his association with LFW, he further added, "The new format of the digital fashion week which required me from creating, conceptualizing to directing a film has been enormously demanding. Working with models and making them characters, collaborating with musicians from all over the country, and managing several other things simultaneously, this has been a rather rare experience that I’ve truly loved because somewhere it satisfies two loves of my life – fashion and film.”
“My association with Lakmé Fashion Week continues to grow stronger. We continue in our journey to explore many layers of art and craft through our showcase, and there could be no better platform than to showcase our Ruhaaniyat collection with LFW. Mijwan strikes the deepest chord of my emotional bond with craftspeople. We just completed our ten years with Mijwan, and it gives me so much happiness to see the village growing bit by bit. Today, the craft of Mijwan is an integral part of our label, and we are happy that with our support, the village is growing, and we will continue to take bigger strides to empower not Mijwan but our all other craft clusters," he continued.
Commenting on the collaboration for the opening show of Lakmé Fashion Week’s digital-first showcase, Jaspreet Chandok, Head Lifestyle Businesses IMG Reliance said, “It’s always a pleasure to have Manish at Lakmé Fashion Week. We wanted the opening show to be really special this time and towards a cause that is important to all of us, towards the artisans that are the backbone of our industry. It is our privilege to have partnered for Mijwan fundraiser which is so close to Manish. We look forward to seeing the master courtier spin his magic on the virtual runway.”
Adding further glamour to the opening show would be, Bollywood’s favourite Kartik Aaryan who will feature as the designer’s muse in the couture film.