Lakmé Fashion Week x FDCI is one of the most watched out for events in the country. The bi-annual event attracts audiences not only from India but also from across the globe and is one of the most followed platforms digitally. Earlier this week, the property concluded its four-day long fashion extravaganza that hosted new and seasoned designer showcases, thought-provoking discussions, sustainable initiatives, crème de la crème of the Indian fashion and entertainment industry and more. Scroll below to get a glimpse of some of the biggest moments that the platform witnessed at the Jio World Garden, BKC, Mumbai from 9th to 12th March.
Spotlighting emerging talent
Fashion as an industry is challenging to say the least. You finally succeeded in creating your brand, have been around for a couple of years—but now what? Enter Lakmé Fashion Week X FDCI. Their approach to nurturing the design community has been holistic right from the start, from their longest running INIFD GenNext program to the NEXA Spotlight, the curated emerging talent showcases by the platform has seen up and coming designers rise to fame over the years. This year as well, brands such as KoyToy, Hiro, KoAi, Rudraksh Dwivedi, Siddharth Bansal or the FDCI Innovators ft Akaaro and Nitin Bal Chauhan showcased cutting edge collections that played into fabrics and techniques that wowed the audiences across the 4 days of fashion.
Sustainable initiatives took a front row seat
From RISE Worldwide presenting a unique sustainable showcase by internationally recognized designer Ruchika Sachdeva for her label Bodice during Sustainable Fashion Day to the Circular Design Challenge (CDC) presented by R | Elan™ that celebrated its fifth year since inception by hosting a special showcase by three of its alumni labels – Chamar, Doodlage-Made from Waste and Iro Iro to the grand Khadi show debuting thought-provoking collections that honoured and celebrated India’s Fabric of Freedom, Khadi India with a multi-designer runway showcase, sustainability took the centre stage. To top it off, Lakmé Fashion Week in partnership with FDCI collaborated with renowned designers Abraham & Thakore to design the exclusive print of reusable water bottles across the venue in a bid to reduce water wastage as well as tackle the use of single-use plastic.
Fashion Forward Showcases
The showcases at Lakmé Fashion Week x FDCI were innovative presentations that constantly kept audiences at the edge of their seats. The week saw some showstopping menswear collections by Antar-Agni, Koytoy, Sahil Aneja, Dhruv Vaish; a tech-meets-fashion presentation through a first-of-its-kind collaboration by Hair tech giant Dyson and fashion designer Arpita Mehta; FDCI presented the “First Cut” show by Pearl Academy where 32 students across campuses in India presented their individual takes on how fashion can bring courage to the present and new hope for the future despite the many disasters taking place worldwide. And a reimagination of streetstyle by designers Two Point Two by Anvita Sharma, Six5Six by Avni Aneja, Hiro by Hiral Jalal gave streetstyle a new direction.
A star-studded affair
No fashion runway in Mumbai is complete without a bevy of Bollywood beauties both on and off the ramp. The event saw several actors take to the ramp – from the star cast of the famed show CLASS to Sara Ali Khan, Sushmita Sen, Karisma Kapoor and even yesteryear icon Zeenat Aman, who stole the show! Off the runway, a range of starlets made their way to the showcases, leaving fans in attendance starstruck. The event saw attendance from prominent social media as well as TV stars such as Aditya Seal, Sonali Bendre, Armaan Malik, Aashna Hegde, Nimrit Kaur and more.
On-ground engagement initiatives
Fashion enthusiasts hop, jump and slide into the Lakmé Fashion Week X FDCI venues in a bid to catch the glitz, the glamour, the drama and more each season. Hosted at the Jio World Garden, BKC in Mumbai, this season the audiences were in for a visual treat with loads to do to keep oneself fashionably busy.
Legendary label, Satya Paul collaborated with India’s distinctive electronica artists Komorebi and Curtain Blue to create a visual showcase Birds & Bees. This unique collaboration called ‘The Satya Academy presents Komorebi and Curtain Blue’ brought to life a melodic intersection of fashion and music via a first of its kind live concert. For a little shopping spree, The FDCI Designer Stockroom returned for its 10th edition that provided leading fashion talent across the industry the opportunity to sell their stock to a large pool of consumers. Over 70 designers panning, established as well as up and coming labels displayed their collections (old/ new) for audiences visiting the venue.
A fitting finale
The Lakmé Grand Finale brought the curtains down this season at Lakmé Fashion Week X FDCI by retagging tags such as high maintenance, arm candy, gold digger and what not in collaboration with Diffuse by Manish Malhotra. Redefining the power of fashion in being #UnaplogeticallyMÉ, the collaboration was a showcase of the new brand-world of Lakmé and Manish Malhotra’s Diffuse Collection, encouraging women to celebrate their individuality.
The biggest ever grand finale in the history of the 22-year-old platform saw an unprecedented 102 models, almost 1000 guests, a front-row filled with stars and creative mavericks with Lakmé brand ambassador Ananya Panday and actor Aditya Roy Kapur closing the show – every detail of the grand finale came together to create a sensory spectacle.
