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IF 2008 belonged to the recessionistas, 2009 was a toast to the spirit of revival. It actually gave cause for celebration, literally, with many a cause and couture getting stitched together to give us spectacles like Salman’s Being Human and Sanjana Jon’s Save Girl Child shows.
With the profusion of back-to-back fashion weeks, some on collision course, the fashion frat, it seems, churned out wardrobes faster than Ratan Tata rolled out wheels in 2009. And show stoppers popped up on runways with a rapidity that could’ve given the run rate of our men in blue stiff competition. (It’s another matter that some of these khiladis were themselves caught more on runways than running on the field). "Ah yes, there were way too many fashion weeks this year," says designer Rahul Mishra, whose collection ‘Threads of Freedom’ at Wills India Fashion Week-2009 (WIFW) earned him rave reviews. "And there were too many showstoppers, which often shifted the attention away from the wardrobes to the wearers," he feels. Though the issue of showstoppers unlimited ‘n’ uninterrupted did have its rebels with a pause, the show(s) went on`85 Barely was it curtains down on one fashion week than another one got rolling. Apart from the Big Mommies of all design extravaganzas, the Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) and WIFW, there was the Van Huesen Men’s Fashion Week, HDIL Couture Week, debut edition of Bangalore Fashion Week and what not. And now, Chandigarh Fashion Week’s poised to be the latest debutante in this sisterhood of style spectacles! So, was it more the merrier? "Hardly," says Rahul, who showcased only at the two main events, LFW and WIFW, this year. "In fact, it became unfashionable to be part of too many fashion shows." "With so many shows, designers are not able to focus on a particular collection and it gets tiring too," he adds. Maybe, with fashion fatigue setting in, the year could’ve ended with a Lack of Will(s) India Fashion Week... But in terms of making moolah, there was cause for cheer, for after the slowdown of 2008, business was brisk in 2009. Says Rahul, who had come out with an innovative ‘Reversing the Recession’ collection the previous year, "This recession line had ensembles which could be worn inside out to give the customers a buy-one-get-one-free feel to beat the meltdown mood." He adds, "This season, the mood became upbeat and the business was better." A regular in the fashion week circuit, Mandira Wirk, the designer from apna Punjab who made a debut at Kolkata Fashion Week (KFW) besides a showing at the LFW, sums up the mood thus, "Recession was still the buzzword and so, investment clothing made it big at various fashion weeks. This season was all about practicality, aesthetics, styling and wearability. The predominant trend was of saleable creativity on the ramp." The badshah of bandgala, Raghavendra Rathore, apart from doing the couture week circuit, came calling to Chandigarh recently to tap the Punjabi market. "Chandigarh is a very important market for me. My clientele here demands classic designs, so I have come to explore the market for menswear," is how he stated the purpose of his visit even as he spelt out the mood for 2010. "Careful spending will be the keyword for the coming season. Making wise choices is the way to go," he adds. Talking of wisdom, how much sense and sensibility was there in the wardrobes of 2009 and which were the likeable and the lousy styles? While the biggies in the business come up with their own lists of the sexiest, best and worst dressed and other such hits and misses, we ask the style gurus to name their show stoppers and spoilers of the season and the moments when style went silly. Mandira gives her list of likes: "Sonam Kapoor and Mallaika Arora Khan and Hrithik Roshan were the best dressed people around." No wonder then that the gorgeous Mallaika was her showstopper at the LFW. As for Rahul, his vote for the best dressed woman of 2009 goes to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. "She looked absolutely ravishing on the Cannes red carpet. After the series of faux pas she’d made earlier at Cannes, she really came into her own this season." And the male who gets the trophy for being trendy, according to Rahul, is Saif Ali Khan. "He’s really evolved and worked hard on grooming himself. He was a scene stealer not just on the ramp this year (Sallu’s Being Human show and other fashion weeks), but his look in Love Aaj Kal spelt class too," says the designer. But one look that designer Rahul feels really went wrong was that of Akshay Kumar in the animal print, V-neck skinny shirt on Salman Khan’s show Dus Ka Dum. "That was the ultimate fashion disaster of the season. Though there’s nothing wrong in sporting animal motifs, his style just didn’t click," the fashion guru feels. No dress ka dum, poor Akki. No wonder, the hero didn’t have to work too hard to be voted the worst dressed in a recent survey. Kambakht kitsch Mandira gives her verdict on the guys too. "Govinda could really do with a good stylist," comes her polite suggestion. On the women on the red carpet, Mandira says, "Vidya Balan looks really nice in Indian attire, but she really didn’t carry off western wear. That’s a real red carpet faux pas she made." Maybe Vidya’s learning her lessons, for she played safe at the Paa premiere in her Sabyasachi sari. She can now silence the fashion police with "Mere paas Paa hai!" And when did style really go silly? "Well, Sushmita sure took the cake this summer with her outlandish animal print gown on the red carpet that looked more like night wear!" exclaims Rahul. "There was just no fashion in it," Rahul elaborates. Perhaps, she was attempting a Scarlet O’ Haara, literally, but ended up doing a midsummer night’s scream. Adds Mandira, "All the trends worn together are a perfect recipe for a fashion disaster. Any trend is a disaster if not carried off well. For me, leggings worn as pants were definitely a total fashion disaster of 2009." It certainly was the year of the Barbie doll and what a Kat walk she did. Looking dolled up may do fine for Katrina, but it didn’t do other fashionistas much good. "The ultimate fashion faux pas of the year was the baby-doll frilly look that certainly didn’t do well on the Indian body type. Normally, Freida Pinto carries off apparel with aplomb. But the frilly frock she sported on the red carpet recently was out and out a disaster," declares Mandira. That was the barbie look gone bust. "Boyfriend jeans were another fashion disaster, as they are not very flattering to the Indian woman’s body structure." Tweaking the traditional. Well, experimenting with traditional Indian attire like the sari is fine up to point. Says Rahul, "One fashion that was highly overrated and went wrong was the sari going really short and getting teamed up with denim and what not. Tweaking the sari to make it contemporary is alright, but teaming it with jackets and making it go too short just doesn’t work," he proclaims. So, that was the long and short of Season 2009.
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