Lakme Fashion Week | Gaurang (Indian Textile Day)

Next up - another favorite collection of mine from LFW, is Gaurang Shah. This is my very first encounter with the designer, and it was love at first sight! The collection was richly detailed and very colorful, and used an amalgam of different textiles to create a very vivid presentation. The clothes reminded me a little of my beloved Sabyasachi, especially the printed blouses, but the similarities ended there, since Gaurang has a very different aesthetic than Sabyasachi.

I'm a lover of anything traditional (if it has a little twist, even better!), so naturally the brightly hued silk saris, lehengas, and salwars/churidars and kurtas had me sighing all over the place. Think deep peach, magenta, fiery orange, deep red, bright yellow, with gold embellishments and little peeks of green, combined with printed textiles in the form of blouses, shawls, and skirts. It sounds like a lot, but the presentation was perfectly restrained and never over-the-top. Needless to say, Indian Textile Day is definitely my favorite at LFW, and I will be on the lookout for Gaurang Shah's future work for sure!

Take a look! (And be sure to behold the beautiful Kirron Kher, who was the showstopper!)

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Lakme Fashion Week | Vaishali S (Indian Textile Day)

Hello readers! I apologize for the very, very long delay. I know I've neglected this blog dearly. I didn't post anything for so long because I didn't find anything that I was excited about. But fear not - Lakme Fashion Week is here, Winter-Festive no less, and I have tons to share with you all.

Without further ado, let's talk fashion!

First post is dedicated to Vaishali S, whose aesthetics I fell completely in love with during my first encounter. Vaishali sticks of her simple aesthetics, again using loads of Chanderi sari fabric, subtle embellishments, and touches of silk. The collection is laid-back, soft (in a good way and without being overly girly) and pretty much exactly what I love - Indian clothes with a bit of a twist. There wasn't a single piece that I didn't like! And I especially loved the large bindis and the pom-pom accessories!

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Textures: Textiles of India

While in India, I got to go shopping and sightseeing, and took in a million colors and textures. Bright colors, intricate embroidery, patchwork, sequins, stones, beads, crushed silks, jewel tones, tissue thin saris, and so much more -- it's all gorgeous!! So, here's a mini crash course on some of the gorgeous, colorful textiles of India. Photographs by yours truly :)

Zardosi work - embroidery with sequins, stones, beads, metallic and colored threads, and more! 

Kota: brightly woven cottons, usually in the form of colorful saris

Applique and embroidery work

The colorful borders of traditional South Indian Kanjeevaram saris. 

Intricate embroidery on jewel tone silks

Block printed cottons

Handloom cottons colored with vegetable-based dyes with colorful borders

Colorful printed and dyed cottons

Those are just a few examples of the many textures, textiles, and colors of India. Part 2 will follow soon :)
Hope you liked it!