Shantanu & Nikhil define their contemporary bride at IBFW

New Delhi; Closing day four of BMW India Bridal Fashion Week , designer duo Shantanu & Nikhil showcased their bridal collection "The Mahal", which defined the young contemporary bride and groom.

Drawing inspiration from the Mehrangarh Fort of Jodhpur, the couture line was for the flamboyant hearts that are ready to go beyond the conventional idea of wedding dress.

"She is contemporary woman, she is fearless, she knows what she wants, she is not driven by society norms, to wear a 10kg lehenga. She has her own rules," Nikhil told reporters about their bride.

The couture line that presented beautifully crafted women's wear, gave equal importance to the men's wear. The collection offered a variety of contemporary traditional options ranging from draped kurta to cropped jacket to shimmery bandagals and digital printed sherwani's for groom-to-be.

"The Indian man is now ready to take chance. Our man no more wants to wear a typical sherwani and wish to look cool and sexy. In our collection we have short sherwani for cocktails, classic sherwanis with velvet dupatta for wedding. We have created a new category of draped kurta a cropped jacket which will surely become a huge hit," the designer said.

Dominated by the earthy tones of fort, the colour palette moved from beige to chocolate, grey , royal blue, maroon and patina gold.

The grey line from the collection was completely influenced by the Sheesh Mahal.

Another highlight of the collection was the use of leather throughout the line. The dupattas with leather lace, gowns with leather jackets and bandgalas with carved jharoka patterns received a great round of applause.

Embroideries were dominated by the carving on the ceiling and windows of the fort and the digital prints of the Mehrangarh became the base of many of the creations including gowns, sherwanis and even the mojris.

Not going too strong on the bling factor, the silhouettes were inspired from the strong yet controlled architectures and were designed keeping in mind the family and friends of the to-be-married couple.

"We are strongly focusing on the family and friends of the bride who come to the wedding, they are very important for us. So, this is taken care of the by the variety of colours used, that are not typical Indian," said the designer.

Low on Bollywood glamour but high on style, the show saw Nikhil closely watching the ramp sitting in the audience and noting down probably the plus and minuses of their couture line and Shantanu managing the stage.