WIFW Daily Diary: Day 2

Aman Kanth

The second day of Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week saw cheerful use of colours and fabric while showcasing the creativity of top-notch designers. Prashant Verma : With Prashant Verma’s aesthetic collection ‘Meat’, one saw a tale of fortitude and vigor. Verma’s collection was a unique blend of human aggression where one could see uncontrollable rage. Verma said that his collection analyzed human aggression, as “The main job of making this collection was to be brave enough to address the devil inside you and to sort of get it out. If you look at it, there are politically incorrect or extreme references that I have. There are body builders who inspire me, there are dictators who inspire me and they have been ruthless and savage in their sort of extremities they have put on themselves and on the world. But you can’t forget that when they were a little insecure child. They must have gone through something that formed them into these beasts." Verma’s creation featured uniform of rugby players dress teamed with helmets, shoulder pads, satin robes, leather and boxers. Pankaj and Nidhi : The collection of designer duo Pankaj and Nidhi Ahuja was a colourful collection ‘Life in Technicolor’ that was a welcome respite from blacks and grays. Pankaj and Nidhi’s collection saw violets, purples, flaming reds and blues while giving a whole new timbre to their creations with trapunto jackets, geometric embroideries, vintage Russian print tunics were the part of their collection. Ritu Kumar is always known for her innovative designs that showcase a unique blend of creativity. At WIFW, one saw a unique blend of tussore wool, zardosi, Islamic tiles, mothra silk and brocade in yellow, brown, purple and maroon. Talking about her designs amid the financial downturn, Ritu added that " we all as designers have to become realistic about price levels about what the recession is asking us to do is look inwards and say what it is - it has to be eco friendly, it has to be user friendly and it has to come at good price and that it is a responsibility that we have a design team." Given the situation of global meltdown, designers are more than willing to shoulder the responsibility. According to designer Punnet Nanda, "See at this point and time when every body will have a careful watch on how they spend, I have to make clothes which are going to be so beautiful that they would have to spend inspire of them not wanting to spend, so I have to do my job even better, that how I look at it." With most of the designers understanding the global downturn, many designers went ahead with models rather than Bollywood beauties. Nevertheless, for the connoisseurs of fashion, WIFW is a gala event that brings together various designers under roof.