Lakme Fashion Week 2018: Gen Next showcases monochrome with burst of colours

Seasons mark the change in time and as a reprieve from the withering grey winters, the Gen Next designers opened the Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Spring 2018 with panache.

The students of INIFD presented their collection at the fashion extravaganza, which provides young designers a platform to showcase their talent.

Five labels - Anvita Sharma and Asit Barik, Ayushman Mitra, Padma Raj Keshri, Mohammed Mazhar, and Helena Bajaj Larsen - opened the fashion week.

The show began with Mazhar's minimalistic, simple and understated designs in the form of white dresses, shirt dresses, pantsuits and skirts.

His collection was a tribute to the washermen and had steam press motifs.

"It's a multi-inspirational story. I believe the 'dhobis' indirectly contribute to fashion industry, but with changing times their significance is declining. I wanted to bring that to attention," he said.

Anvita and Asit's collection had long shirts with high waist checkered pants, uneven jacket flaps with checks in light grey and black giving an edgy look to the clothing line.

Rife with stripes and buttons, the collection is gender neutral and wearable.

The designer duo said, "We draw our inspiration from the human anatomy and don't discriminate between genders and body types."

Keshri's label brought forward kimono-esque dresses with flaring dupattas, blue and white stripes, grey stoles and long shirts.

The collection stood out in terms of volumes of light layers in breathable khadi.

The designer said he used his travels to Ladakh as the backdrop and went with 'less is more' ideology in his mind.

Helena's clothing line was a departure from the light whites, with intricate hand-printed textiles showing off bold colours of black, red, ochre, cream and gold.

A Parsons graduate, the designer said, "We used acid and pigment dyes to add texture to the clothes. Even our jewellery of silver-brass is hand done and focuses on texture."

Mitra's collection with colours of the spring gave a fitting end to the opening show.

Dressed in basic whites with bold floral motifs in bright red, green, pink, the models walked from the opposite end of the ramp.

The garments included skirt, tops, dresses and even saree with black red jackets.

Mitra, who identifies primarily as a painter, said his aim was to move art out of gallery space through his line.

"This collection has been developed from my paintings. The theme is liberation of love. I think all colourful things seek attention for things are not discussed and that no one has be to be a certain way," he said.

Celebrity designer Ashley Rebello was also present to root for the newcomers and offered Mohammed a chance to work with him in a film.

Actors Tillotama Shome, Huma Qureshi and Saaqib Saleem attended the show.