JOIN USThis season of the Metrolife Fashion Show promised to be bigger and better, the coming-together of the hottest couture on campus — and the east-west zonal round, which was held at Garden City College, was just that.
The designs were bolder, the clothes hotter and the catwalks even spicier. Thirteen teams hit the ramp to showcase their campus style quotient and the dazzling evening that followed proved that Bangalore colleges are high on fashion.
The judges for the evening — model Vibhinita Verma, designer Jason Cherian and actor Suriya, of Crazy Loka fame, added an element of glamour to the evening.
The show got off to a great start — as soon as MC Zuhair Abbas stepped onto the stage, a cheer ran through the packed auditorium. Expectations ran high after last year’s chic display, and the colleges who turned up this time around didn’t disappoint.
First up on stage were the girls of Bishop Cotton Women’s Christian College. Dressed in a lovely ensemble of white and red, complete with cutting-edge statements like trench coats, ruffled frocks, angel sleeves and cropped pants, they formed quite a pretty picture. Next up was the home team — Garden City College — and the riot of colours and textures that they brought to the stage was a sight to behold.
Their collection was touted to display the individuality of different cultures, and this is exactly what they did; with luxurious drapes, gorgeous jade-green stilettos, lovely sashes and harem pants, they made quite a style statement.
Colleges like Indian Academy, IFIM and CMR Institution of Technology carried forward the tempo. While the students of Indian Academy flaunted a collection of togas with floral headgear, the team from IFIM carried off Mughal-inspired attire, with richly-embroidered ghagras, silvery lehengas and gauzy gold dupattas.
The boys looked regal in turbans and cream and gold dhotis. CMRIT went for an elegant, evening-wear theme, showcasing lovely gowns, gauzy skirts and neat blazers, which the boys paired with jodhpurs.
Next up was CMR Center for Business Studies, which opted for a black-and-white themed collection. The chic designs and lovely interplay of these two colours presented an avant-garde spectacle.
St Anne’s PU College, which hit the ramp next, flaunted a dazzling collection of pastel dresses, which they paired with feathered black boas. The girls even changed in the middle of the show, re-emerging in catwoman-esque trousers and silvery masks.
The boys of Baldwin Methodist College presented a fierce, warrior-like spectacle: their performance, which was set against turbulent music, was replete with dark dhotis, elaborate headgear and beaded accessories. CMR Institute of Management Studies too opted for this sort of theme, with the boys selecting carefully-draped togas and dhotis and the girls sporting satin skirts and embroidered blouses.
The tenth college to hit the ramp was Mount Carmel College. The girls presented a pretty picture, dressed in flowing cream saris, black velvet blouses and pale headgear tacked with butterfly cuttings.
The cut of their blouses, in particularly, was exquisite.The last three colleges in the show were Army Institute of Fashion & Design, Sindhi College and CMR Law School. Each dazzled the judges — while the first went for an ethnic collection, with jodhpurs, tie-and-dye yellow skirts and strings of jasmine at their wrists, the second opted for marriage-themed rich designs — blue ghagra cholis, saris with plenty of zari and even a white lacy wedding frock.
CMR Law School wrapped up the show with a dazzling display of dark outfits, which they spiced up with accessories made entire of CDs. The CDs presented a strobe light-like effect which held the audience mesmerised.
One of the highlights of the evening was a dance performance by Soorya and Spoorthi, two students from Garden City College. Dressed in gold blouses with bright-red harem pants, the girls put up a lovely contemporary number — even dancing blindfolded at one point.
“We had barely one day to practise — but both of us have been trained in dance for ten years, so we managed quite a good performance,” said Spoorthi excitedly, right after the show.
Eventually, the girls of Mount Carmel College stole the show and snagged the first prize.
While CMR Institute of Technology came second, the home college was delighted to find out that their very own team had walked away with the third prize.