Category Archives: nightout

Experi-Mental-Asylum

At The “O” Experience are the self confessed street-o-holics of India’s colorful alleyways, Designer Nida Mahmood and artist Raul Chandra, who have drawn inspiration from the quirks and vibrancy of Indian streets. The result is a techno colour circus with a rambunctious rebellion of fashion, art, music, video art projections & performance arts. 

Experi-Mental-Asylum would take the masala packed juicy world of Bollywood to clothes, bags, diaries and home décor elements. So be it Gabbar Chair or Mogambo shoes, Don Bag’s or Zeenat books. It will also feature artistes, photographers, musicians, performers every fortnight, who are part of this almost underground, sub-cultural art movement redefining 21st century Art. 

The “O” Experience would also be showcasing a Fashion-Art Installation called Heady-Steady-Go an ode to headgear art, where on display is a funky, over-the-top headgear installation, along with Video Art Projection featuring an assemble of a grungy yet colorful visual storyline. The video-art will be synced to live music on the consoles. With absolutely out-of-the box electronic dance music with live electric guitars by Dualist Enquiry (LA).
 

The Urban Tree

Introduction of The Urban Tree, installation by designer duo, Gaurav & Ritika at “Las Ramblas” is the garden’s ode to the summer months in the capital. The LAP Garden also brings forth the unveiling of “Wed La Moda” Wednesday nights. 

Gaurav & Ritika’s concept tonight takes cues from the Spanish spirit to party of culture and good living. Their installation is an amalgamation of various elements from the contemporary environs of Las Ramblas, represented through the abstract compilation of a tree highlighting primarily the cultural diversity of the celebrated boulevard, through its various branches. The organic silhouette of the tree and its dramatic branches tap into the latent sense of nostalgia that persists in all city dwellers.

“The Urban Tree” portrays the balanced blend of the upbeat urban lifestyle at busy city streets such as Las Ramblas, depicting Fashion, Art and People highlighted amidst urban Architectural forms, Post- Modern Interiors and Furniture to connote a human element.

Seen appreciating the installation by the talented duo and enjoying the Spanish Festival were Sunil Sethi, Varun Sardana, Nitin Bal Chauhan, Zubair Kirmani, Rimzim Dadu, Aastha Bahl, Gunjita Dhawan, Bharti Bhalla, Rashmi Virmani with her daughter Gopalika, Himanshu Verma, Shrivan & Narresh, Pushkar Thakur, MTV Producer from LA – Josh Shore and Joelle, Spanish film maker Pedro Medina with his wife, Thenny Mejia, amongst many other. 
 

Fashion Niftified

Fashionova 2010 proved to be a blazing event showcasing the design collection of 35 graduating students of NIFT, New Delhi. The Show was an amalgam of talent, training and skills developed by the Fashion Design students over 4 years. 

Fazal Mahmood swept away almost all jury awards with his futuristic Avant Garde menswear collection H+. He won the award for the best design collection, most innovative and creative collection, best Avant Garde collection and excellence in garment construction. The award for design excellence in womenswear went to Shreyasi Srivastava while the award for best menswear collection was taken by Dharmendra Rathaur. Akansha Singh took the award for the best use of traditional skills in contemporary styling as well as the award for the most innovative use of cotton with her collection Adiwasi. Damneet Kaur claimed the award for the most creative use of Viscose. The academic excellence award also went to Shreyasi Shrivastav.

The show also presented the intermingling of east and west through a collaborative initiative between NIFT and Accademia di Costume E di Moda, Rome. The project titled ‘Art of the Loom’ showcased 10 ensembles which were also showcased at Alta Roma in Italy.

Yet another highlight of the evening was the unveiling of eco-friendly and wacky Cycle Rickshaws as a curtain-raiser of a NIFT-FDCI initiative.

The mega event was attended by eminent personalities like the Honourable Secretary Textiles, Govt. of India – Ms Rita Menon, FDCI President – Mr. Sunil Sethi,  Mr. Shriram and Mr. Sanchit Bhatia. A-list designers like Ritu Kumar, Samant Chauhan, and Nitin Bal Chauhan were also in attendance.

The students seemed to be yet another batch of bright design professionals groomed to perfection by NIFT, New Delhi. All seemed to be brimming with innovative ideas ready to take over the world of design and fashion with their out of the box thinking. 
 

Nisha JamVwal in Chennai

Nisha JamVwal -Style Diva, Fashionista and maverick designer visited Madras with her collection a champagne cocktail at Blend, with a Fashion Walk hosted by Taj Mount Road and Sanjay Sood, Vice President Taj Mount Road was presented by Sameer Ram of & Couture.

She splashed her vibrant colours, festive and cutting edge summer chiffon Sarongs, flamboyant couture gowns, party wrap around skirts, Evening sequin Saaris in her signature flowing feminine fabrics and colours especially created for "the global Madras Woman with traditional roots- clothes that are affordable and literally and metaphorically cool.

Nisha Jamwal, known as a page three enigma, is arguably the first successful interior architect and lifestyle columnist to diversify into fashion in India. She owns an eponymous Fashion Label of the same name that ‘creates fashion for the contemporary woman that works hard, plays hard and makes the most of life" Very much like the designer herself!!

Nisha JamVwal’s celebrated collections quirkily entitled, like a canvas on which I paint,  Sex With My Ex, India Phoenix’ ‘Prowl, I’m In Love Again and I Believe I Can Fly. There are select pieces from each famed collection at the show where the colors and silhouettes live the metaphor of a woman upward of twenty having a love affair with her euphoric teens.

Clothes presented at the Amulet Ashoka show recapture that feeling of rapture when one first falls in love. What sets this style icon apart is her indefatigable creative spirit breaking down the walls of different design paths – drawing energy from one to the other and celebrating all- architecture, fashion, writing, poetry, painting, craft- and this is reflected in the couture and prêt that breaks preformatted traditional rules of musts and must not’s, and her works are on exhibit at the show on the 21st May 2010.

Raul & Nida at Las Ramblas

The LAP Garden’s festival "Las Ramblas" saw the self confessed street-o-holics of India’s colorful alleyways, designer Nida Mahmood and artist Raul Chandra, who draw inspiration from the quirks and vibrancy of Indian streets, nooks and crannies.

The result is – New India Bioscope Co, in a new blockbuster techno color circus with rambunctious riot of FASHION, ART, MUSIC and VIDEO ART PROJECTIONS– taking the masala packed juicy world of Bollywood to clothes, bags, diaries and home décor elements. So be it Gabbar Chair or Mogambo shoes, Don bag or Zeenat book, 70’s bollywood in Nida’s style was be the flavour of the evening.

The artists are also doing an installation with masks – called The Totem Village this will be ongoing and will keep evolving over the next few days as the festival progresses.

Present for the evening were AD & Sabina Singh, Dr Alka Pandey, designers Samant Chauhan, Charu Parashar, Hemant & Nandita, Abdul Haldar, Joy Mitra, Pratima Pandey, model Kabeer, actor Aditi Chengappa, Yasheel Jain, Bharat Shah amongst others.

Blossom Spa @ Ishwar

Reflexology massages, aqua workouts, nail art, and Vandana Vadhera crooning popular melodies was the spread of the day for women who gathered for the summer special ladies spa Lunch organized by Ishwar Blossom Kochhar Spa. The Spa got together to give the members of the club a special treat before they went away on their summer vacations. 

Situated in Gadaipur, Mehrauli, Ishwar Blossom Kochhar Spa is an oasis of relaxation, a calming heaven laid out away from the clutter of city. Upon entering the premises, one would realize that they have entered the world of serenity and ultimate luxury. A cocoon designed to relax and rejuvenate mind, body and soul. It has a team of highly skilled and professional therapists who can provide exclusive experience and treatments.

The pool side of the Ishwar Blossom Kochhar Spa also witnessed services like Balanese skull massages and de-stress massages after the ladies had a splash in the pool.

As the pioneer of “Day Spa” concept in India, Dr. Blossom Kochhar has been exploring, learning and imparting knowledge on the science of beauty/ well-being and has been instrumental and successful in bridging the gap between beauty and well-being in her own enigmatic style. With the successful functioning and operation of this SPA, she ensures to provide all the visitors a whole new experience of serenity and wellness.
 

Fashion Panorama

Shruti Goradia of Goradia School of Professionals hosted a Fashion show par excellence where in students had designed unique and outstanding outfits. Fashion Panorama provided a powerful platform to the budding designers to showcase their creation to the eminent personalities, press and potential clientele. The show infused optimism & confidence in the students to step into their careers. 

Models like Ishita Sarkar, Alicia Raut, and Candice Pinto walked the ramp. With jury members like Archana Kochhar, Viren Shah, Pradeep Hirani present who thoroughly enjoyed the rounds. The winning collections for the evening were by Parin, Urvi and Jasmina awarded by Bhavni Subramanium and Konkana Bakshi.  The Most creative collection was also won by Parin, Urvi and Jasmina. And the Most Commercially Viable collection was designed by Rajvi and Manali.

With multiple avenues as myriad as diverse emotions, the students expressed what they felt was closest to their heart, just like man has forever been on a quest to express his emotions. The graduating designers worked on expressing their varied emotions in a specific form to create their extravagant creations. The show eulogized the “sprouting of joy and heart breaks into a happy song” and “Romance in the Indian wear” and “desire for the ghagra choli collection.” 

Archana Kochhar said she was surprised to see the excellent designs especially the bridal wear and found the designs very novel. Konkana Bakshi was looking pretty in a red outfit and so was Shriya Kishore in casual jeans and a shirt. Nisha Jamwal said she was hooked on to the show which looked extremely professional as the title of the college. 
 

Riyaz Ganji

The LIBAS brand and its style prodigy designer Riyaz Gangji were back at their best again. The audience was awe-struck as they were enthralled with this one-of-a-kind show covering every aspect of an Indian wedding in 3 sequences starting from the bachelor’s party to sangeet and then the actual wedding.

The show was conceptualized as a ‘Bollywood musical fashion show’ with special tracks created by hit musical duo Sajid Wajid. Their special edition of music developed for the show added to the drama, style and glamour of Riyaz’s creations. The gorgeous actor Jacqueline Fernandez, was a show-stopper for this wedding show wearing Imtiaz Motiwala’s designed stunning necklace worth 5 crore.

Said Riyaz, “The collection flowed from black to beige and then ultimately to maroon. This collection is cut and styled by me and the work on each sherwani has been manually crafted by housewives from Lucknow.”

The show was well attended by an eclectic mix of Bollywood personalities like Sonu Nigam, Aditya Pancholi and his children, Vaishali Desai, Kishan Kumar, Rajvir, Hemant Shah, Shawar Ali, Sonal Chauhan, Priyanka Kothari & others.
 

Khushii Auctions Art

A glittering auction was hosted at The Claridges Hotel, Delhi where Khushii unveiled a spectacular line-up of auto rickshaws that were created into art master pieces by India’s leading contemporary artists. 

As FDCI joined hands with the World Action Forum to raise funds for this sterling initiative by Khushii, these precious three wheelers, limited in edition got formally unveiled at the WIFW autumn/winter 2010 providing the autos a prestigious platform. It was board member of Khushii Leena Singh of Ashima Leena who made the alliance possible. Collectibles in their own right these autos make a very unique installation, adding an element of chutzpah, to any space, be it home, office, golf course or your sprawling farmhouse. 

Speaking on the occasion Harveen Kapur, General Secretary, Khushii said, “The auto rickshaws are iconic of Indian identity. They are piece of art by themselves. Converting them into canvases for the masters’ to work on was an initiative in furtherance to Khushii’s Public Art Forum.’ 
 

Las Ramblas at Lap

This summer The Lap Garden, hotel Samrat, Chankyapuri, transforms into Las Rambas, a cool summer destination bar experience built around a continuously changing mélange of installation art, live music, contemporary tapas, delicious Sangrias, video and fashion. Kicking off the seasonal extravaganza were design stalwart Ashish n Soni and artist Pushkar Thakur. And the guest of honour for the evening was his Excellency Ambassador of Spain to India, Mr. Ion de la Riva. 

Inspired by the famous Spanish poet Fredrico Garcia Lorea who once said “Las Ramblas was the only street in the world that which I wish would never end.” The Lap Garden presents Las Ramblas as an ode to the summer months in the capital, a continuity of sorts in the form of refreshing seasonal avatar where the party never ends.   

The story unfolds romantically around the fountain at the heart of Lap Garden, as each corner transforms into ,modest yet enthralling visions of the Las Ramblas, with the rhythmic strumming from an assorted line up of musicians specializing in everything Jazz to Spanish house and club. 

Speaking on the occasion, Partner AD Singh said, “The Las Ramblas is a cool hangout for summers. It’s a great Boulevard bar experience offering something for everyone. With this we attempt to recreate the experience of wandering around Barcelona or indeed any of the great European cities. Through the festival we encourage you to come and chill in the evenings, try some contemporary tapas, have a look at the video-dome, browse through the fashion on display, enjoy the art. Much of this keeps changing every week so it’s a living, changing display that entices you to visit again and again.”