Decoding India’s haute couture

Ten years ago, Karl Lagerfeld used a 21st century technique, called molecular adherence, to coat every strand of the fox, mink and astrakhan fur he used (in his Fendi fall collection), in 24-carat gold. The fur jackets looked like they had literally been dipped in gold. Last week, at the India Couture Week, Rahul Mishra brought an unprecedented freshness to the runway by creating whole ecosystems — featuring birds, animals, lakes, swaying palms, and even huts — on his opulent lehengas, and replicating 17th century Mughal tilework and Islamic tessellations on the pallus of saris. In essence, both these examples exemplify what haute couture is — fashion taken to its heights in terms of technique, craftsmanship, design, material and exclusivity.

Indian designers have always had easy access to intricate craftsmanship, especially when it comes to embroideries, weaves, printing and dyeing techniques. However, in this context, the nature of couture in the country and in the West diverges and has led, over time, to Indian couture being conflated with occasion and bridal wear. Add to this the fact that it caters to the affluent, and you begin to see a pattern emerge.

Over the last 15 years, both Delhi and Mumbai — cities that host the two biggest fashion weeks in the country — have seen the number of their resident millionaires rise by a whopping 300%: 41,200 in Mumbai and 20,600 in Delhi (according to 2016 figures). Their influence on what designers create was clearly visible on the ramp at the recently-concluded India Couture Week (ICW), the annual event organised by the Fashion Design Council of India.

Spread over five days, ICW included shows by 10 designers who presented their Fall 2018 Haute Couture collections at the Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi. A majority of them sent out models dressed in painstakingly embellished lehengas and saris, silhouettes that flatter Indian women and are the ideal canvases for handcrafted techniques like zardozi, fareesha, aari and resham threadwork. Hand-done prints and dyeing techniques also featured heavily. And a few, like Mishra, even developed and wove their own fabrics.

However, that does not mean that all who work on haute couture in the country only design ethnic outfits. Amit Aggarwal’s début couture show, despite featuring several lehengas, was mostly about gowns and sari-inspired dresses embellished with crystals and acrylic strips that lent fantastical shapes and forms to his creations. “When I design couture, I’m looking at the modern woman who would like a special piece that she can wear anywhere in the world, regardless of trends,” he says. “Though the bigger market may be bridal, this category also needs to be catered to.”

From Mumbai, celebrity favourites Falguni & Shane Peacock went the red-carpet route, spangling form-fitting gowns with an abundance of Swarovski crystals and edging them in faux fur and feathery trim fit for the Oscars or Cannes. These designs are meant for style-setters like Natasha Poonawalla — known to host high tea in archival Alexander McQueen pieces — who wear couture as art, rather than as occasion-wear during the festive and wedding seasons. Her tribe is growing, and designers like Aggarwal and Falguni and Shane are ideal for their needs.