Review: The GenNext Show at Lakme Fashion Week
The “Next”, whether its GenNext or Netflix Next, TrendsNext or PMNext, BreakingNewsNext or BollywoodNext is today a more pulsating idea than it ever was. With the past and present of an era and its people, its fashions and its flurry crammed in the cookie jar of social media photos posted by millions of people around the world enveloping us in a haze of sameness, that which hasn’t yet lived a life excites us. We are after all, citizens of this “must-be-continuously-excited-or-something-is-wrong-with-us” era.
GenNext has been Lakme Fashion Week’s (LFW), “continuously excited slot” (well, mostly) for the last 26 seasons. 235 young designers have debuted through this, some now stars of the Indian fashion industry.
Today for the opening show of LFW’s Winter/ Resort 2018 as another bunch of debut designers sent out their newly minted business cards on the runway at The St Regis Hotel in Mumbai, excitement came with the territory. Much of it was well deserved. Youthful energy in form, makeup, styling, music was certainly in the air, even if not all the five designers could claim brilliant new imagination.
Anurag Gupta’s denim blues in well-tailored silhouettes paired with boots were a good start as his clothes were definitive in their personality, they didn’t pander to “this and that” whims of the market and offered the clear takeaway of good finishing. So this is what The Voice of Fashion said on Instagram: “You can’t go wrong with denim blues and snugly tailored garments but you can go right. That’s where Anurag went. He went right.”
But the real rite of passage was best played out in Yavi by Yadvi Agarwal’s collection and in Aur by Ajay Kumar Singh. The former had hand-painted separates and painterly prints on saris and other garments, silken to look, pretty in shape and proportion, offering just the right amount of dressiness and modernity. The latter was a delightful if bemusing offering that used layering, printing, some cutwork, some pleating, some patchwork, a bit of Kantha embroidery on nice stiff cottons and handloom fabrics. My personal favourite in this bunch for its whimsy.
This ensemble of five included Jajaabor by Kanika Sachdev and Neelanjan Ghosh, and Studio SWGT by Sweta Gupta. Jajaabor’s prints and embroideries made sweet little notations but the collection went in too many directions—from wide pants to flowy dresses to churidar sleeves–considering it had only a few pieces to show, it could have done with sharper focus. Studio SWGT on the other hand wasn’t short on focus with its cinnamon outing but it wasn’t memorable enough to hold in thought or reference.
Surely there must be at least 5 ways to sum up this show but if we try do it in five phrases, ours would be: Energetic vibe, Saleable-Wearable, Imaginative-in-Parts, Non-Ethnic Eclectic Indian and Bright but not Brilliant.
https://thevoiceoffashion.com/centrestage/reviews/review-the-gennext-show-at-lakme-fashion-week-1199