Winter is coming

Swati Rai

As ochre and amber fill our world, fashion is set to take a seasonal turn too. Subtle or bohemian, Autumn/Winter sartorial trends are largely dominated by celebrations. While wedding couture and festive wear have a place in Indian fashion that’s hard to ignore, there’s more to fashion than mere festive predilection. Let us break the stereotypes in a fashionable India one by one by redefining this bridal jingbang first of all.

Mix-match

An eclectic design story is in the offing. From folk tales to stone cave carving, from graphic and geometric patterns to the Garden of Eden and tribal art, all are out of the design book and on the garments.

Ranna Gill lays her bet on retro. “The 1980s are back! From foiled metallic to fancy frill and cold shoulders, shoulders would be doing all the talking this season,” she says. Introduce these to the winter-festive season where the ethnic brigade usually doesn’t step out of the saree. This time, you will be surprised to see suits become the new age chic garment. Stylised dhoti pants, Patiala salwars with pom-pom tie ups, free fall palazzos, there will be more to these separates than before.

Textile designer Gaurang Shah’s ‘Chitravali’ (painted panoramas) is inspired by 30 frescos from caves of Ajanta. Talking about the trend of muted hues and artistic impressions on the fabric, Shah shares: “Every aspect of these garments carries a strong and diverse colour personality.” His inspiration is the unique Kanjeevaram silk that is synonymous with celebratory wear. He has been successful in subduing the bright colours by using natural dyes, while maintaining the richness with archaic temple tales using the korvai weaving technique. This mix and match runs through all the facets of a garment — from stitching and styling to colours.

A neutral story

While indigo and shades of white ruled the summer fashion sojourn, Fall colours are an interesting blend of neutrals with one highlight colour on the garment. These could be sorbet tones of peach and Prosecco, canary yellow with calico blue and reds as one saw in ‘Sweet Surrender’, Ritu Kumar’s Lakme Fashion Week collection depicting the 18th century French Marquis fashion era. The colour card in this collection saw soft pastel hues contrasted with tropical prints like unconventional fruits and striking bold blossoms. 

Play along

When Priyanka Chopra recently strutted at the Emmy Awards red carpet in an outfit with feather tassels as train, she mixed and matched textures. Tulle with net, chambray with handloom hemming, quilted jackets, psychedelic plastic and coloured fur… You got it right! It’s all about the feel of the texture this season. You will see all kinds of knits. Corsets will compliment silk sarees and even linen dhoti trousers.

Jaya Bhatt & Ruchi Tripathi of Indigene are for playing around with textures. “A patchwork ragged jacket, reversible quilted shirt and khadi silk shirt with indigo denim pleated pants are what we suggest for women.”

For men, they offer a mix of print and plain fabrics and different textures of silk and khadi cotton, giving a colour blocking effect. “The jacket, patch-worked, is frayed to create an interesting overall texture. Heavy pleated denim pants, which could be natural dyed indigo, are a perfect match for the top layers,” says Tripathi.

The key to all the experimentation remains the attitude to carry it. For designers Ekta and Ruchira of EKRU, this season, the silhouette is structured and cropped cuts come with a flare to move flawlessly over the body. “It is a new approach to traditional tailoring as past and future blend. Quilting in jackets and at the hem of dresses is all the rage this season.” Kamaali Mehta of Kamaali Couture roots for a metallic-hued autumnal fashion. “Glittery pants and skirts are all over this season. Short dresses and funky cuts and designs often have metallic aspects to it without minimising or obliterating the use of sequins. Metallic hues in foiled fabrics, tissue and high shine satins with a lot of drama in dresses, evening wear and formal bridal gowns are in.”

So, as one’s social media feed explodes with random bloggers and ‘influencers’ with their pick of the right look for you, choose to wear what defines you this auburn-hued fashion season. The palette is as varied as it is individualistic.