Chic News: LFW W/F 2011 gets 87 designers, big names (Rohit Bal, Rina Dhaka, JJ Valaya)

Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2011 kicks off August 16, 2011 and this season’s designer line-up is super-exciting—by sheer numbers and names.

Some of the top designers to showcase their collection on the LFW W/F 2011 ramp:

  • Rina Dhaka
  • Rohit Bal
  • Sabyasachi Mukherjee
  • JJ Valaya
  • Narendra Kumar Ahmed
  • Wendell Rodricks
  • Nachiket Barve
  • Archana Kochhar
  • Pria Kataria Puri
  • Anita Dongre
  • Manish Malhotra (grand finale)

Below: From Sabyasachi’s LFW S/R 2011 collection, from Anita Dongre’s Timeless collection at LFW S/R 2011

Sabyasachi Mukherjee LFW S/R 2011 Anita Dongre Timeless LFW S/R 2011

And some of the other leading fashion designers include:

  • Swapnil Shinde
  • Shivan-Narresh
  • Little Shilpa
  • Debarun Mukherjee
  • Babita Malkani
  • Aneeth Arora
  • Parvesh & Jai
  • Babita Malkani
  • Rajat Tangri
  • Kallol Dutta
  • Shyamal & Bhumika Shodhan

Below: From Debarun Mukherjee’s LFW S/R 2011 collection; from Little Shilpa’s collection at LFW S/R 2011

Debarun Mukherjee LFW S/R 2011 Little Shilpa LFW S/R 2011

Which designer’s collection are you looking forward to at Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2011?

Chic News: LFW W/F 2011 gets 87 designers, big names (Rohit Bal, Rina Dhaka, JJ Valaya)

Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2011 kicks off August 16, 2011 and this season’s designer line-up is super-exciting—by sheer numbers and names.

Some of the top designers to showcase their collection on the LFW W/F 2011 ramp:

  • Rina Dhaka
  • Rohit Bal
  • Sabyasachi Mukherjee
  • JJ Valaya
  • Narendra Kumar Ahmed
  • Wendell Rodricks
  • Nachiket Barve
  • Archana Kochhar
  • Pria Kataria Puri
  • Anita Dongre
  • Manish Malhotra (grand finale)

Below: From Sabyasachi’s LFW S/R 2011 collection, from Anita Dongre’s Timeless collection at LFW S/R 2011

Sabyasachi Mukherjee LFW S/R 2011 Anita Dongre Timeless LFW S/R 2011

And some of the other leading fashion designers include:

  • Swapnil Shinde
  • Shivan-Narresh
  • Little Shilpa
  • Debarun Mukherjee
  • Babita Malkani
  • Aneeth Arora
  • Parvesh & Jai
  • Babita Malkani
  • Rajat Tangri
  • Kallol Dutta
  • Shyamal & Bhumika Shodhan

Below: From Debarun Mukherjee’s LFW S/R 2011 collection; from Little Shilpa’s collection at LFW S/R 2011

Debarun Mukherjee LFW S/R 2011 Little Shilpa LFW S/R 2011

Which designer’s collection are you looking forward to at Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2011?

Chic Pics: 250 topless models audition for upcoming fashion week in Delhi

It will soon be time for the third edition of Van Heusen India Men’s Week and preparations are on in full swing. So 250 young men turned up for the model auditions of India’s only fashion week exclusively for men. A glimpse of the auditions:

Van Heusen India Men’s Week models

The bare-chested guys would have been enough to make many of our readers swoon!

Anyways, a jury (that didn’t ogle) judged the men on attributes like confidence, attitude and physique. The jurors Ashish Soni, Aparna Bahl, Gautam Kalra, Jamal Shaikh, Namrata Joshipura, Naveen Ansal and Rohit Bal selected 20 new faces for Van Heusen India Men’s Week 2011.

The very hot and lucky models who made it are:  Akshit, Ankit Raj, Arya Bhat, Danish, Himanshu Sherawat, Honey, Krishna Chaturvedi, Kuldeep Samant, Pankaj Tanwar, Puneet Beniwal, Ravinder, Romey, Shekkar Singh, Siddhant Bhutani, Sulabh, Sumit Grewal, Sumit Sejwal, Taher Ali, Uday Sandhu and Yashwant.

Here they are with the judges and with some clothes on:

Van Heusen India Men’s Week models

Ladies, pick your favourite and tell us who you want to see on the ramp. 😉

Have a drooling weekend!

Van Heusen India Men’s Week 2011 will be held September 2-3, 2011 in New Delhi.

Chic Weekend: Get a haircut at b:blunt, shop at Ensemble, Grab a Lavie bag

Speaking Chic’s weekend to-dos for fashionable fun!

Get a haircut at b:blunt

One of our favourite salons B:Blunt has just opened at hip and happenin’ Bandra. The salon will be run by Shimsha and Shefali Shetty, the sisters known for great hair styling. So if you’re in Mumbai’s western suburbs, and you’re looking to prep your hair for the hot summer ahead, you know where to go!

Below: Abhishek Bachchan with the Bandra b:blunt team.

b:blunt team: Avan Contractor, Shimsha & Shefali Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan, Adhuna Akhtar and Osh Bhabani

Shop for Rohit Bal and Kotwara at Ensemble

Ace designer Rohit Bal and Kotwara’s collections recently hit the racks at Ensemble, Kala Ghoda (Mumbai). While Rohit Bal’s collection comprises flowy crushed kurtas, Kotwara’s designer duo Meera and Muzzaffar Ali have used chikankari work on whites and soft pastels.

Below: An outfit from Kotwara’s Ensemble collection

Kotwara - summer 2011

Grab a Lavie bag

We like Lavie bags because they’re affordable and chic. 🙂 Would be a good idea to check out their bags—they’ve got a whole range from sensible work bags to trendy clutches. (Available in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.)

Below: Lavie Cloris bag

Lavie CLORIS bag

WIFW: 141 fashion designers? We explain!

Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Autumn/ Winter 2011 kicks off on April 6, and the designer list has been announced. A whopping 141 designers will showcase their collections at the Delhi event.

image001Now 141 designers is an amazing number, right? So we poked around a bit and discovered some interesting nuggets, that explain the numbers better:

Out of a total of 141 designers, 77 will have ramp shows. Fifteen of them are Hi 5 designers  (upcoming designers making their runway debut).

The remaining (that means 64 designers) will only display their collections in the stalls. That’s an area like an exhibition hall where you can check out the clothes and accessories, and even meet the designers. You can usually find buyers and journalists and other general visitors in this area during fashion week.

What we find most interesting is the list of designers who only have stalls. These include big names by Rohit Bal, Malini Ramani, Gauri & Nainika, Amit GT, Nachiket Barve, Prashant Verma, Ranna Gill, Rina Dhaka, Vineet Bahl and Wendell Rodricks. Wendell Rodricks WIFW

We wondered what such big names are doing off the ramp. It’s possible these well-established designers feel they don’t need ramp shows to get attention. Perhaps they’d rather focus on getting their clothes right, rather than dealing with the chaos and costs of a ramp show. Or maybe they feel ramp shows are just not worth the expense?

What do you think?

PS: Some of the recognisable names showcasing their collections on the ramp: Abraham & Thakore, am:pm by Ankur & Priyanka Modi, Gaurav Gupta, Geisha Designs by Paras & Shalini, James Ferreira, Label – Ritu Kumar, My Village by Rimzim Dadu, Namrata Joshipura, Neeru Kumar, Niki Mahajan, Pero by Aneeth Arora, Rahul Mishra, Rahul Reddy, Tarun Tahiliani, Sabyasachi Mukherjee.

WIFW: 141 fashion designers? We explain!

Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Autumn/ Winter 2011 kicks off on April 6, and the designer list has been announced. A whopping 141 designers will showcase their collections at the Delhi event.

image001Now 141 designers is an amazing number, right? So we poked around a bit and discovered some interesting nuggets, that explain the numbers better:

Out of a total of 141 designers, 77 will have ramp shows. Fifteen of them are Hi 5 designers  (upcoming designers making their runway debut).

The remaining (that means 64 designers) will only display their collections in the stalls. That’s an area like an exhibition hall where you can check out the clothes and accessories, and even meet the designers. You can usually find buyers and journalists and other general visitors in this area during fashion week.

What we find most interesting is the list of designers who only have stalls. These include big names by Rohit Bal, Malini Ramani, Gauri & Nainika, Amit GT, Nachiket Barve, Prashant Verma, Ranna Gill, Rina Dhaka, Vineet Bahl and Wendell Rodricks. Wendell Rodricks WIFW

We wondered what such big names are doing off the ramp. It’s possible these well-established designers feel they don’t need ramp shows to get attention. Perhaps they’d rather focus on getting their clothes right, rather than dealing with the chaos and costs of a ramp show. Or maybe they feel ramp shows are just not worth the expense?

What do you think?

PS: Some of the recognisable names showcasing their collections on the ramp: Abraham & Thakore, am:pm by Ankur & Priyanka Modi, Gaurav Gupta, Geisha Designs by Paras & Shalini, James Ferreira, Label – Ritu Kumar, My Village by Rimzim Dadu, Namrata Joshipura, Neeru Kumar, Niki Mahajan, Pero by Aneeth Arora, Rahul Mishra, Rahul Reddy, Tarun Tahiliani, Sabyasachi Mukherjee.

Winter Layering: Go Indian (part 2)

In our earlier post, we gave some easy tips to help you layer your Indian clothes. Here are some more tips, but be warned: not all these options are easily available or ready-to-wear. These will work well if you have the time, patience and effort (and maybe even a bigger wallet) to hunt for the right fabrics and tailors.

  • Long Indian jackets are a growing trend, but these are usually heavily embroidered and not appropriate for daily wear. So make your own such jacket! We suggest brocade jackets (plenty of options out there, and they go with almost everything), and advise your tailor on the silhouette you want. It would be worth the investment.

Rohit Bal Indian jacket

  • Maxi/midi-length buttoned tops/ shirts and tunics are other practical options. You could wear them as jackets/ coats, layered with your kurta underneath. Works well with straight cuts.
  • Indian waistcoats were the rage for a brief period. If you’re lucky enough, you will find some in local markets/ emporiums foreign tourists like to visit. There are plenty of options in waistcoats, from raw silk to organic cottons to fun colours and embellishments like sequins or thread work.

How are you going to layer your Indian clothes?

Related Posts:

Winter Layering: Go Indian (part 1)

Winter Layering Trends: Go Casual

Winter Layering: Dress smart for office

Winter Layering: More trendy office looks

Fashion News: Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2011 designers announced

Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2011’s advisory board recently announced Gen Next, Emerging, and Accessory Show Designers for the upcoming LFW Summer/Resort 2011.

Here’s the complete list:

Gen Next Designers:

  • Anna Liza Ganguly &  Anita Walia
  • Deepti Purthi
  • Manas Dash
  • Miriam Strehlau
  • Shivaji Dutta
  • Timsy Kamboj

Emerging Designers:

  • Abhishek Byas
  • Jelin George
  • Pamela Phlaphongphant  & Archana Banchongrati
  • Sabah Khan
  • Sabbah Sharma
  • Vaishali Shadangule
  • Atithi Gupta

Below: An outfit from Jelin George’s Lakme Fashion Week Winter/ Festive 2010 collection.

    Jelin George LFW 2010

Accessory Designers:

  • Eina Ahluwalia
  • Malini Agarwalla
  • Prabhat Kumar
  • Rachana Reddy
  • Rina Shah
  • Rohan Arora
  • Suhani Pittie

Below (from left to right): Picks from the Lakme Fashion Week Winter/ Festive 2010 collection of (Row 1) Eina Ahluwalia and Malini Agarwalla; Row 2: Rohan Arora and Suhani Pittie.

Eina Ahluwalia LFW 2010 Malini Agarwalla LFW 2010 Rohan Arora shoes LFW 2010 Suhani Pittie jewellery LFW 2010

More LFW News

This season renowned stylist and designer Aki Narula will mentor and guide the Gen Next applicants. I say they’re a lucky bunch!

Also, veteran designer Rohit Bal is now a member of the LFW Advisory Board.

Which designer are you looking forward to this season?

Wedding fashion: Chic embroidered jackets for sangeet

A richly-embroidered jacket for weddings has been on my wish list for a very long time now. And after thinking about it over and over again, I think it’s the right time to buy one. 🙂

Embroidered jackets look elegant and sophisticated, and are ideal for traditional gatherings such as the sangeet. I’ve seen some women wearing such jackets at weddings too.

Rohit Bal embroidered jacket   

Left: Rohit Bal jacket; Right: mapxencaRS by Riddhi & Siddhi

How to wear embroidered jackets:

  • Make the exquisite jacket the focal point of your look. Wear your jacket with a simple kurta and churidar in the same or contrasting colour.
  • Or go casual with a comfortable camisole and tight pants/ knit leggings/ churidar.
  • Experiment with your silhouette by pairing your jacket with loose pants, lehenga or skirt.
  • If you’re petite, add on a pair of high heels (no wedges, please). Stilettos, pointy toes, and peep toes would bring a touch of class and grace to your look.
  • Keep the jewellery subtle and minimal (you want people to look at your jacket, right?)
  • Walk tall!

Would you like to add an embroidered jacket to your wardrobe?

Related Posts:

Wedding picks: Top sari and lehenga trends

Wedding Fashion: Saris dipped in gold

Wedding fashion: Let the kalidar kurtas bloom

Rohit Bal: Get your festive cover-ups

I’ve never been a big fan of wearing cover-ups (jackets and coats) with Indian wear, despite the frequent appearance on the ramp. But when it comes back show after show, and appears on Rohit Bal’s couture collection, I decided it’s time to take this almost-trend a bit seriously.

At HDIL India Couture Week, Rohit Bal presented all kinds of cover-ups to go with Indian wear: long coats and cropped jackets with gold embellishments and zardozi work. He paired them with lehengas, full circle kalidar kurtas and velvet blouses.

Zardosi jacket at Rohit Bal show Gold kurta with jacket at Rohit Bal couture week

And why should guys be left behind? Here’s an interesting jacket for men, festive and fun:

Wihte and gold men's blazer at Rohit Bal couture week

Will you wear a jacket or coat this Diwali? Tell us!