Manish Malhotra - A Success Story

Indian designer Manish Malhotra is one of India’s most well-known and loved fashion designers. But not only does he create stunning garments for Bollywood’s most important and loved names but has also designed for a number of world famous Hollywood stars, such as actress Reese Witherspoon and even supermodels Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. Manish is well known world wide for the creation of extravagant and luxury garments with a distinctive traditional Indian style with the use of colour storytelling and glamorous and intricate craftsmanship.

Manish was born in Mumbai, and his swift journey to the top of the fashion industry has ultimately been one of a kind. From his characteristic love for movies, glamour and unique colour to forming an extremely niche category for himself as a top Bollywood stylist/Costume Designer. He is now one of the most well know and influential designer’s in the country, he has without a doubt created an unique pathway to success.

As a self-taught designer, Indian designer Manish’s career first started with a small Mumbai-based boutique. From that moment he chased his dream to be a Costume designer for the top movies. He initiated ‘styling’ in Bollywood as a whole as we now know it today, a visionary that involved not only the creation of the clothing but the development of the character and the aspect of working on each fragment of the look.

Manish Malhotra's imaginative outfits and garments always attract applause from the audience at Lakme Fashion Week, but his most recent cocktail dress collection for the current year's Winter/Festive Season fashion week hosted in Mumbai was all the more incredible and jaw-dropping. We saw a variety of shimmery, beautiful and breath-taking ensembles of couture Indian attire from the Indian designer including unique lehengas, sarees, and fusion outfits.

Staying very true to his glossy theme, Manish designed his whole collection around shimmering fabrics and dreamy rich colours.

As the saree develops as more and more globalised as a fashion statement, Indian designer Malhotra used its elegance, detail and charm to design beautifully flowing skirts – doubling up the traditional Indian garment into a stunning ball gown that glides across the room.

The fashion week festivities wouldn't be completed without some breath-taking and unique lehengas, created from shimmering silver fabrica and embroidered with gorgeous pearl coloured beads! Manish Malhotra's designs are known to feature heavy materials and borders in line with a graceful and royal image.

The Future of Fashion in India

The best thing about fashion in India is that it doesn’t remain constantm with new ideas constantly springing up. West meets ethnic is the fashion statement which has taken the country by a storm. Peasant crop tops, solid anarkalis, printed trousers and culottes are just some of the few wardrobe must haves. The glorious fusion of chic modern style with quintessentially Indian fashion has created an explosion of unique designs and a riot of never seen before colours. This is the future of Fashion in India.

Fashion blogger duo Shereen and Kayaan are fun, challenging, confident and bold. They push their boundaries and wear quirky outfits that leave us desiring some for ourselves.  

Their Rakshabandhan blog post was aptly titled Raksha Fusion. Kayaan, as seen in the top image, has captured the absolute essence of India with her Debashree Samanta dhoti pants, and flashy gold jewellery while the crop top balances the whole look lending it a western touch.

Shereen, as seen in the top image, wears a Karishma Jamwal drape dress and tops it with a Kiran Uttam Ghosh pleated cape. The loud and vibrant orange and red colours add that perfect smack of ethnicity.

They also modelled for the next gen Indianfashion designer Tanya Sharma’s eccentric label named ‘GaGa’. Shereen, in the far top image, wears a quilted Bandhini sweatshirt, a croptop and bright lehenga skirt. Kayaan on the other hand goes sporty ethnic (yes, that’s a thing now) with a quilted jersey and tie dye anarkali. These outfits take this wonderful fusion to a whole new level.

While the designer, Debashri Samanta, was inspired by the plight of the Vietnamese fisherwomen when creating these outfits, we can’t ignore the subtle Indian ness in them which is so chic and strangely elegant that we can’t take our eyes off them.

Our absolute favourite is Masaba Gupta, the originator of the avant-garde. With her zany, quirky and eccentric prints, she has won over the hearts of millions. Such was the demand for her clothes that she started a new line of unusual and unconventional outfits in affordable prices!

Khyati Pande is an upcoming designer whose creations are spreading like wildfire. She combines various elements to create one outfit and the best part is that it doesn’t look garish or over the top.

She loves her colours and knows how to play with them. Layering with flair is her forte and she loves bright waistcoats, minimal kurtas and bold trousers.

‘It’s a new era in fashion- there are no rules’ –Alexander McQueen

Never be scared to experiment with your style and fuse eastern and western elements!

A Designer Lehenga - Past to Present

As well as being a very popular and stylish item of clothing it is a well known fact that the designer lehenga has a very rich history because its origin can be traced back to the medieval period when the country was under Mughal occupation.

The lehenga is actually regarded as a form of skirt very similar to the one worn by people from Scotland, but is clearly vastly different in design! Over the years it has undergone major modifications because of the changing preferences of the users and now comes in many unique forms and designs.

 

The lehenga is generally adjusted at the waist and consists of different types of excellent craftsmanship that has catapulted it to be one of the most prominent ethnic wears in the current fashion market.

A Designer lehenga is one of the most important ethnic garments that has seen its popularity soar in present time, and is now also worn by a number of Bollywood celebrities not only on set but in their everyday lives. At times most of these designs are made keeping in mind the actress who is going to wear it. Hence, each Bollywod lehenga is as unique as each celebrity. Bollywood lehengas come with the most exquisite and exotic embellishments fitted on the finest of fabrics.

Deepika Padukone recently stole the show when featuring in Delhi Couture Fashion Week, wearing this amazing blue embellished Lehenga.

Some of our favourite designer lehenga’s at the moment come from Siddartha Tytler. Constantly experimenting, innovating and bringing in new styles, Siddhatha’s designs are always moving quickly with the trends.

His lehenga designs are beautifully unique and interesting and come in a variety of bright colours and bold prints. His designer lehenga’s are very modern and contemporary which definitely makes them stand out from the crowd.

If you want to shop the latest styles from Siddartha Tytler's collection of Designer Lehengas have a look at indian bridal wear!

Indian Clothing over the decade!

There is no doubt that the fashion industry is one of the fastest moving industries in today’s time. Also, it cannot be denied that the Indian clothing has evolved tremendously over the past decade.

Traditional Indian Clothes

The traditional Indian clothes for a women included Saree, Salwar-Kameez , Ghagra Choli(Lehenga).Jewellery was an integral part of a traditional Indian woman’s attire. It depicted ones status.  The traditional Indian men’s attire included Dhoti, Kurta, Sherwani and Turban. Even back then colour played an important role in the Indian fashion. Rich Indian fabrics with intricate hand woven embroidery were a beauty to look at.

Cine Blitz magazine (1970)

Dimple Kapadia in the Film Bobby (1973)

Indian Movies played a major part back then to influence the Indian audience regarding the fashion trends. In the 1960’s, the Bollywood actresses pretended to play shy and modest roles so were their clothes.  1970 -80’s was one of the most influential years, a turning point of the Indian clothes industry. The 70’s started trending bold designs. Bollywood actresses were spotted in bikinis and skimpy outfits on screen. For instance : Bobby (Bollywood Movie)   The fashion trending in the 70’s era was transparent synthetic material like georgette and chiffon saree’s with small pallu ,different type of blouse designs like halter , low neck-line and noodle strip blouses etc . For instance : Sholay (Bollywood Movie) The Indian clothes for men were cotton printed shirts, cloth and leather jackets, trousers with flare, shirts with butterfly collar and big sunglasses, etc. Three piece suits also gained a lot of popularity during the retro era.

Amitabh Bachan in film Agneepath

StarDust Annual (1980)

 In the 80’s disco era, the attire got bolder as women started strutting in strappy sandals, fitted denim/pants and the traditional saree’s were plain and simple. The change in the Indian clothes industry was caused of the influence of western fashion. The men were seen in complete head –to-toe white attire. The evolution was huge not only for the Fashion industry but also for the Bollywood industry in India.

Isqh (1997) 

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) 

The 90’s was the old school style ,where the men’s wardrobe included baggy pants, oversize shirts  with t-shirt underneath them, waistcoats, printed ties , coloured denim pants and dungarees. On the other hand, the women were spotted in colourful bandani outfits, chunky jewellery, shoulder pads, hair bands, high waist skirts, long dresses, shorts etc. Their make-up included matt lipsticks.

Kaho na… pyaar hai (2000) 

In the 20^th century, the Indian audience was introduced to the concept of Indian designer wear with contemporary clothing. Indian men were spotted wearing tight fitted jeans/pants, shirt and t-shirt.  Women’s fashion in India had become classy and sophisticated by this time. Women started wearing short dresses, designer clothes and grooming themselves.

Dhoom 2  (2006) 

Aisha (2010) 

Ever since then the Indian designer wear in India has been booming. Today, people have become so brand conscious and fashion alert. The urban crowd is very well aware of the latest trends in fashion. The fashion industry in India has also created its own unique space in the international market: thus even Western people started to wear Indian dresses. The Indian fashion industry is an amalgamation of ancient Indian craftsmanship along with contemporary designs.

See also the history of Indian floral patterns!

Read more about Indian fabrics :

http://www.squidoo.com/indian-fabrics-ancient-history-of-quality-and-tradition

Picture of the Day: Esha Gupta modelling for JJ Valay's bridal lehengas collection at IBFW 2013

Gorgeous Esha Gupta walks the ramp for JJ Valaya during the IBFW 2013, wearing a red and golden embroidered piece from the designer's bridal lehengas collection. 

Picks of the stars here!

Bridal Lehengas: From the Catwalk to your Wardrobe

From exotically traditional to contemporary western, the fourth day of ongoing wedding fashion extravaganza Indian Bridal Fashion Week has seen it all.

Designer couple Muzaffar and Meera Ali chose to showcase a very Indian style bridal wear collection, replete with bridal lehengas, shararas and sarees, based in shades of gold, cream and black.

Here is a beautiful bridal lehenga  from Strand of Silk, designed by Narendra Kumar:

Want more? Just take a look at strandofsilk.com 

How to Play with Indian Skirts

Some fashion tips from our favourite Bollywood celebrities on how to wear Indian skirts created by talented designers, are always welcome, don't you think!?

There are many ways to play with Indian skirts and get the best from them, starting from traditional lehengas to more contemporary skirts.

Have a look at the beautiful Mallika Sherawat in Anita Dongre: she chose to wear just the skirt of this brand new lehenga and pair it with a pretty golden top!

But if you prefer something more trendy, then pick up the Evelyn Sharma's look! We loved her Nishka Lulla pink skirt!

Indian Skirts at Asiana Couture Fashion Show 2013

The Asiana Couture Fashion Show took place in London last Sunday. It was a great occasion to see new collections of Indian couture wear, including beautiful lehengas and Indian skirts. We were there to collect ideas and inspirations to offer you the trendiest pieces of the season!

Take a look at these beautiful styles, we felt ashamed by the shining colours and the elegant patterns of the Indian skirts!

 For more insights from the catwalk, follow our blog updates!

The secret of the latest Indian Bridal Fashion for Embroidery | from Strandofsilk.com : Machine Embroidery

Hello Everyone!

This morning I was browsing Strand of Silk's website to look for some new masterpieces to add to my wardrobe. 

As it often happens, I ended up in the bridal page and I spent sometime looking at the beautiful bridal lehengas and wedding sarees. 

In particular, I focused on the embroidered creations by Narendra Kumar. I love his style!

All of these details must require a huge amount of work - I thought. 
Then I noticed the grey box in the top menu calling me again! So I got to the Strand of Silk blog and I read a bit about embroidery, and its latest trends.
Enjoy a preview of the article below!

"This season few of our designers are leaning towards machine embroidery. This technique helps in creating a variety of designs with ease as compared to hand embroidery. It allows for the use of a wide variety of colours and stitches. It is almost a way of perfecting the embroidery and the finish for the final design."

[Read more]

Discoer more on the upcoming Indian Bridal Fashion Week!

Trends in Bridal Lehengas

Traditional Indian Weddings have a wide variety of garment to choose among. The families take a long amount of time to decide what to wear in the wedding and especially with the bride. There are several alternatives that can be worn for an Indian Wedding such as sarees, salwar Kameez and Lehenga.

Nowadays there are different versions of Lehengas, following the traditional and the contemporary styles.

In the next photos you can appreciate the differences between the two garments.

The main parts of the Lehenga are: the long skirt (the lehenga.), the stole is called duppatta and the blouse is called choli.

                Contemporary Lehenga                                                                  Traditional Lehenga .

    

                       

Sonam Kapoor In Manish Malhotra Lehenga For Colgate

Sonam Kapoor has been elected as the brand ambassador for "Colgate Visible White" along with ace designer Manish Malhotra.

Indian designer Manish Malhotra, organized an entire fashion line for the summer based on Colgate colours -red and white. The designer showcased his contemporary collection of saris, long kurtas, bridal lenghas, jackets for men.

Sonam, who was the showstopper, looked fabulous in a red lehenga choli with silver embroidery at the bottom.

Lehenga : Another Style Coming From a Blend of Indian Clothes.

                                                                                                     

         

                 Saree is a dress which is different from a Lehenga Style saree. Saree have to form pleats, making it difficult to wear, whereas the Lehenga Style saree is easy to wear. This is precisely the reason why the designers created this outfit, so that it is more confortable to wear. The Lehenga Style saree is a blend between Saree and Lehenga Choli. A Choli is a cut garment that leave the midriff and the navel exposed, which lets fresh air come through when temperatures are high in the South of India. 

Embroideries are used to create the Lehenga Style saree, such as Chikan, Kasida, Kasuti, Bagh... If we take the example of a wedding, the lehenga could be embellished with Bagh embroideries made of gold, silver, real pearls or glass beads, in order to highlight the ladies’ outfits.

One example could be a Lehenga from Narendra Kumar .