Bollywood’s favourite fashion designer Manish Malhotra wowed the audience with his latest collection in partnership with NEXA at the FDCI x Lakmé Fashion Week. The audience was not sitting in the front row but were seated in cars parked on either side of the long and wide ramp area at the dockyard locale, as also the thousand around the world, viewing the show online on their smartphone or fancy laptops.
Naturally, the Bollywood buzz was present with acclaimed actors making their presence felt. The show-starrers were Kiara Advani, looking lovely in a shining silvery gown and Karthik Aryan, a picture of a cool dude in black with deer motifs.
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But we are getting ahead of ourselves. The two stars came towards the end of the super show. The show-starter was top model Deepti Gujral, gleaming in a golden gown and making that long walk. Yes, the models, both girls and boys, had a lot of legwork to do, what with the very long and extremely wide ramp area to traipse through smoothly. It may look like glamour all the way but you should appreciate the hard work that models have to go through.
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What you witnessed from the celebrated couturier was a joyful celebration of moments where social connections and the natural cadence of human conversation take centre stage.
On view were kalidars, lehengas, gowns, jackets, shararas, kurtas, palazzos, dupattas and signature blouses, all aimed to satisfy diverse palettes and varied occasions. The line had joyful hues of sorbet and blush shades of bright pink, lilac, grey-blue, beige-gold, powder blue, metallic gold-silver, black-white among other shades. It travelled from deftly embroidered pieces to two-toned colour-blocked silhouettes that journeyed from staid classic aesthetics to a more dynamic new-age look of contemporary times. The embroidery was sharp in geometric orders, giving it an entirely new dimension to the traditional craft of zardozi.
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The collection was created on the ethos of tradition, but inspired by the present. It was a collection that sits firmly with the pandemic-induced preferences but is also relatable to our aesthetics and our loyalists.
It was a line that largely pushed the rigid boundaries of traditional wedding couture and flex with rather more fashion-forward and innovative materials, silhouettes and patterns in oversized jackets, colour-blocked lehengas and sculptured gowns in pure two-tone silks, Dupion silks, gold silks, organzas, crepes and tissue fabrics.
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Also featured was the Manish Malhotra Jewellery that complemented the collection. The jewels were handcrafted in pure gold, flat-cut diamonds, rubies, Russian and Zambian emeralds and pearls.
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And Manish Malhotra appeared at the end of it all in style, driven in NEXA’s S-Cross model that is said to stand for everything sophisticated and powerful and ready to take you on unexplored paths and become an active lifestyle essential.
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