The Hindu Business Line : Subtle yet original

Welcome to the latest spring and summer collections of India's leading fashion designers, for whom the young and the holiday goers constitute a promising market segment.

Suneet Verma's collection - essentially feminine, this season.

The spotlight on the dark stage focuses on a model in a flowing chiffon dress. As she walks down the ramp, the dress draws applause from a crush of potential buyers, socialites and fashion groupies gathered for the occasion.

Welcome to the 2003 spring and summer collections of India's leading fashion designers. The wardrobe essentials are soft, sensuous chiffon, silk georgettes and laces. Sarees with a European look as also short dresses, hipsters and tank tops.

Take, for example, designer Suneet Verma. His collection, essentially a feminine one, comprises light-weight silk, georgette and chiffon. The colours are tropical such as aqua, sea green, cobalt blue and indigo. Most of the haute couture is draped in various interesting silhouettes to establish the mood of the season.The prints are in bright turquoise; fresh lime green with strong shades of red and pink on sheer chiffons and other summery fabrics. Sarees with sequin and thread embroidery worn with asymmetrical shoulder strap blouses, straight skirts in stark colours teamed with simple shear shirts are the tour de force of his collection.

In simpler terms, Verma says, he narrows the gap between Indian apparel and foreign fashions. His clothes are a splendid fusion of sorts. "The world's top couturiers have been greatly influenced by India, so why should we start aping them now," is his constant refrain.

Aesthetic realm

Fashion designer Ritu Kumar too takes her inspiration from India. For her, every season is an experience and every collection a journey into the inner self, where she discovers yet another aesthetic realm to draw her creativity from.

Her new spring/summer collection comprises printed silk blouses in geometric prints. The hues range from dominant indigos to lively fuchsias. The line is marked by a certain casualness highlighted by crinkled tops and skirts, breezy cotton voiles, printed T-shirts and sequined trousers.

The collection is a blend of silhouettes with classic and timeless techniques, which retain the designer's trademark style. It focuses on cut, colour, drape and feel of the garment aimed at today's mobile lifestyle. The clothes have a new energy and vibrancy in them.

Fashion wizard Tarun Tahiliani too sets the mood with soft sensuous chiffon with a tinge of fresh lemon. The dress can be worn over stretch lycra bodice and lycra petticoat.

Tahiliani's beige kalidar kurta is embellished with delicate chikan work in ivory and is worn with a churidar. Shaded georgette dupatta in tone-on-tone chikan work highlights with sparkling sequins.

Ravi Bajaj goes for a profoundly masculine line in pastel shades.

Surprisingly, this year, the saree forms an important part of Ravi Bajaj's collection. Surprising, because the designer, so far, has been known for his immaculately cut men's wear. This summer, he says, he has designed for women, as he wants to widen his canvas.

Bajaj's summer/spring collection underlines a delicate and refined femininity of the contemporary chic. The style rediscovers the functionality of silk georgettes and laces. Another feature of this collection has been the designer's maiden line of sarees with a European look.

"My 2003 men's wear collection verges on the feminine aspect without compromising the masculinity. Big collars and cuffs and an overall easier look accentuated with varied stripes and checks," says Bajaj, a graduate of the London School of Design.

His 2003 collection for women is uncharacteristically simple yet stunning. It blends form and function with ideas that are both progressive and provocative. The silhouettes vary from figure-hugging ones to A-lines, and from sarees to western wear. It's a celebration of the season.

Shobhana and Vijay Arora's collection too celebrates spring and summer. Though the theme is the romance of the orient, the classical sarees, kurtis and lehengas are given due respect.

Men's wear too finds prominence in the collection as the designer duo creates cool coordinates for the Indian male. The two tread a traditional line concentrating on silhouette of the choga, achhkan and kurta.

A surprise package

However, summer holiday collections are the surprise of the season. Yes, vacation time is a new season being invented by the fashion designers. This genre has come about with young people's desire to look hep and cool during the holiday season. Their clothes must go with the ambience, the occasion and the weather.

Designers like Bobby and Manju Grover and Puja Nayyar have brought out special summer holiday collections to cater to the crowds headed for the hills and the beaches. "On vacations, people are in a different mood and look for clothes that go well with this bindaas mood," says Manju Grover. Bright colours, and breezy fabrics predominate their holiday collections that were unveiled in Delhi recently.

According to Bobby Grover, there is no time like the holidays when people splurge and clothes are one item where money is spent the most. "For holidays, people need hassle-free clothes. Clothes those are at once stylish, casual and easy to wear."

The duo's vacation ensemble includes beachwear, strappy dresses and tunics, linen kurtas and georgette tops. Most of the apparel range between Rs 500 and Rs 3,000. The success of this year's show has encouraged them to plan a holiday fashion show on an annual basis.

So, what's the fashion statement for spring and summer of 2003? Traditional or modern, the choice is all yours. But, as Suneet Verma says, "It is tough doing a spring and summer collection as you need to be very subtle, yet original."

That in a way is the fashion statement for the coming season — subtle yet original, whether in traditional or western wear.

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