JOIN USThe ramp was soaked in white and yellow light and the models gracefully walked onto the platform. With their head held high, they showcased one design after another at the ‘Kingfisher Ultra Style Week’ which was held at Le Meridien.
The three days were packed with well-known designers from not just India, but other countries including the US. Veterans Mona Lamba and Pali Sachdev, who collectively make up the brand ‘Monapali’, kicked off the event.
Their theme for the night was ‘Swarnakamal’ or the lotus. “The lotus is the national flower of India and it is so different from all the other flowers. It requires water, earth and air, and that’s why our collection had a bit of every colour to represent that. We had designs in pink, blue and black,” said Mona.
The showstopper for their collection was South Indian actress Lakshmi Rai, who looked stunning in a pink, green and golden ‘ghagra’ ensemble.
The Bengali designers, who started designing in 1985, decided to speak up against sexual assault against women in their own way. Every model had a sticker on some part of her body that read ‘stop rape’.
“It is shameful that this is happening. Each and every person needs to do something about this. This is something close to our heart because it happened recently in West Bengal and now Bangalore is in the news for all the wrong reasons,” they said.
There were some newcomers like Sarwari Anam and Pooja Raju, who have been designing for just the past six years but came together a year ago. The Hyderabad-based designers decided to go all out and not stick to one theme.
“Our theme was no theme! We wanted our show to be fun,” said Sarwari and Pooja. Sandalwood actress Erica Fernandes walked the ramp for the two.
So what according to them is fashion? “Whatever you wear, have fun with it. It lies within yourself. There are minimal rules — body type and personality; you have to be yourself and get the best out of yourself,” said Sarwari. “It’s what you create and makes you look good,” said Pooja.
The audience looked forward to Bangalore-based designer Manoviraj Khosla’s collection, which was showcased on the first day. His designs were accompanied to the music of popular Bangalore band, ‘One Nite Stand’.
His collection started off with men and women in neon shades and moved on to a variety of clothes. He was the only designer on the first day to use male models.
Known for his metrosexual designs, he had the audience begging for more. Day two and three had well-known designers like Sanjana Jon, who also took to clothes to protest against violence against women and Rocky S and Jattinn Kochhar.