When the autumn arrived in Delhi sometime a fortnight back we were not rubbing our slightly clammy hands while cuddling ourselves on balmy evenings anymore instead we had the colors of spring gleaming in our eyes as a bit of fashionista in us is accustomed to romance with the seasons in advance. 

Well, the occasion was the 20th edition of Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week celebrating the liveliness of Spring Summer 2013 and Delhi was bathing in a riot of colors, characters and fables borrowed from the different corners of the world. The land of alternate-reality blossomedand the following five days came simmering in a cauldron of non-conformism where rural tribes shared space with sovereigns, gypsies sipped wine with caviar, blue mice slept with pinks elephants and the twain finally met.

But then a fashion week in Delhi is not only about fey theatrics, reveries and fantasies, it has more rational connotations to it. Interestingly rational in the terms of designers engaged in Delhi non-Delhi warfare, fourth estate inflating Hindi-English divide, socialites sulking over kings-new-clothes and kings-no-clothes, and models at their teenybopper best.Such engaging acts of buffoonery reprised at the latest edition in their glory, rendering it a risible character, evoking ironic guffaws, as we think fashion is all about bridging the divides.


Nevertheless, the charm of the recently concluded India Fashion Week lied in the fact that it came as a truly global business event with a Dutch entourage of artists belting out the best out of their kitties. The Indo-Dutch fashion collaboration of designers, makeup artists, photographers and musicianson the very first day offered some really interesting designs coupled with insanely dramatic overdose of things uncanny. Be it high steel heels or wild headgears, or the off-ramp tutorials, the tie-up aesthetically and informatively marked the mingling of two different cultures and sensibilities.

More or less, the five-day fashion week seeing a slew of young vibrant crowd in their fluorescent pantsand designer bags, was no different from its past few editions with more than 65 designers showcasing on rampand rest alluring the buyers from their beautifully done stalls. Sans Bollywood designers like Vineet Bahl, Nachiket Barve, Joy Mitra, KanikaSaluja, RimzimDadu and KallolDatta presented some stunning designs while setting the trends for the next season which seem to be dictated by bare midriffs, metals, geometrical graphics and layering.

Even AtsuSekhose’s North East Show presented by the Ministry of Textiles was beautiful in its own right, bringing the artistry of the region to the fore in a very contemporary manner. In terms of theatrics, Nida Mahmood stunned with her eerie colorful face masks and new-age music while Ranna Gill’s rope acrobat successfully happened to induce gapes, making the viewers to forget about the collection.

Though the latest edition finally got rid of its black canvassed den by infusing vivacious illustrations around the venue, foodies got to taste of Elma’s bakery and no front-row-fight was registered but the mediocre installations going unnoticed, delayed shows (up to 2 hours), empty media seats (on several occasions they were gleaned to watch the show) and the gangs of Rimple, Simple, Dimple aunties cheering for their kitty member on the ramp happened to only tarnish the lusterof one of the Asia’s biggest fashion event we love to be the part of.

Posted by : Chaitanya Garg at 12:32 PM