Manish Arora went brazenly ‘Indian’ with his Spring/Summer 2013 collection on the opening day of Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2013. The collection had mostly Indian silhouettes – like the churidaar-kurtas, Kutch jackets and sherwani style jackets - tweeked to appeal to the western audience. Manish predominantly used season’s favourite pastels and metallics, the kaleidoscopic prints in which tigers crouched; there were sheer leggings in churidaar style and foil leopard prints and heavily beaded dresses.
As always Manish Arora used loads of jewelry in gold and some chunky pieces in neon.
Typically 3-D embroidery that has become signature ‘Manish Arora’ and some very traditional motifs embellished the garments that can be best described as ‘Exotic Indian’.
Most of us know of Jean Paul Gaultier’s love for India. His collections over the times have seen inspiration drawn from India. Last evening when Gaultier showcased his Spring-Summer 2013 Menswear Collection in Paris, Turban wearing models walked out one-after-another, looking very much the Sikh young man.
This summer the JPG man is not just a sailor (Nautical theme is Gaultier’s favourite!) but a world traveller. He’s travelled the world and experienced every exotic culture, his appearance a swirl of cultural influences from East and West. Turbans, Mandarin collars and embelishments reflect this. On the more literal nautical front, flat square sailor collars were prominent. One even manifested, in intricately beaded form, on a black evening jacket. Shirts and a slouchy short-sleeved jumpsuit were presented in a print that had a vintage sailor-tattoo appeal.