LEGENDARY designer Yves Saint Laurent once said of ready-to-wear fashion: “Fashion is the reflection of our time and if it does not express the atmosphere of the time, it means nothing.”

This mantra seems to be pinned on the smorgasbord of Lakme Fashion Week this season. More than anything, this fashion week was a cry for change. If fashion was afraid of wearing itself out-- with a sportswear invasion on the street, a handloom box-frock assault on the runways and Instagram stars making everything instantly forgettable—this season sought to hark back at the good old days of no-other-agenda-other-than-beautiful-clothes-for-beautiful-people.

The first change came via a new and upgraded venue. The sprawling tents at the Jio Gardens at BKC were a welcome relief from the never-ending queues and elbowing crowds at the St Regis. The capacious open-air astro-turf lawn, in the middle of the glass-chrome high rises of Mumbai’s favourite commercial district, signals everything that the city is: at play, even at work (not to mention, always on point.)

Then, the change of date. Moving fashion week a month ahead benefits everyone. You have the cooler February climes to step out in. But more importantly, it gives designers ample time to have their collections in stores by summer. And finally, there are the clothes. One saw a farrago of styles and sensibilities, but each one looking ahead with hope, freshness and beauty.

India’s glorious Mughal heritage was paid homage to by team Kotwara. These are poet, filmmaker and designer Muzaffar Ali, his architect wife Meera and their London College graduate daughter Sama, who has just joined her parents’ 20-year-old label. When it was introduced two decades ago, Kotwara brought a much needed sophistication to Indian fashion, which comprised essentially of zardozi- and crystal-heavy clothes. The Alis’ aesthetic was born of chikankari or shadow-work, the subtlest of heirloom embroideries that hailed from Awadh in Uttar Pradesh.

The show opened with a graceful kathak dancer taking you back to a golden era. A sequence with the beatific white-on-white chikan ensued—kurtas, anarkalis, angrakhas and lehengas, and dupattas that were sometimes capes and other times a ruffled boa. Pastels came next, with ornate lehengas and saris, each one showing off all that the Kotwara label can do: mukaish, appliqué, beading, zardozi, brocade and kamdani.

Tarun Tahiliani, whose show followed soon after, took the heritage story further with his interpretation of ‘India Modern’. His room was as usual filled with the strong scent of mogra flowers, dangling from the ceiling like chandeliers. For Tahiliani, fashion is an experience for all senses. His collection was called ‘Chasme Shahi’, and emerged from his favourite inspirations: Mughal architecture and their gardens.

“It’s all about the unbearable lightness of being,” Tahiliani said to this columnist post-show. A “lighter” yet dressier line was his norm du jour, with dhoti saris, brocade lehengas teamed with slim-fit silk shirts, kedia blouses, tunics and slim trousers, his favourite slim belts on saris and lehengas and his passion for cowls. I could own the whole collection.

Savio Jon’s was among the most awaited shows, as the elusive designer had emerged from his Goan village after almost a decade. Expectedly, he chose to keep his show small and unspectacular, opting for the smaller stage instead of the main runway. He placed the seats, white foldable chairs, in the hall himself, each one spaced out to allow for some intimacy with the clothes.

Jon played with canvas, cotton, raffia, twill and some beautiful satin pieces and turned them into holiday wear (by which we mean holiday by the beach of course; he opened with a sailor-striped dress and giant sunglasses). Madras checks, dabu block prints, indigo dyes and some bandhini dresses showed up too, with quirky buttons. But Jon’s highlight was his play on men’s shirts: he turned one into a dress, and another’s front into a sleeve. This sort of cutting has come to be expected of him, even in an otherwise free-spirited bohemian line.

A menswear-only show was presented by three of India’s most talented names in fashion – Abraham & Thakore, Rajesh Pratap Singh and Pero — with the theme being A Sustainable Man.

With indigo as their base for design, these labels presented their versions of responsible, recycled or upcycled clothing.

The 11.11 fashion label does khadi in the most fashionable way possible. Their bandhini appeared from behind hues of smoke, ash and wine along with indigo.

They presented their collection along with Urvashi Kaur, a Delhi-based young designer label that’s turning out to be a strong name here at Lakme. Kaur, like 11.11, had a trans-seasonal line that grew from khadi and cotton, embellished with ajrakh, shibori and leheriya. They were modern clothing with her leitmotif gypsy touch.

Politically, the world seems to be in the heart of darkness, where extremist and supremacist opinions have cleaved society as we know it. Fashion -- and fashion week -- sees its future in its past, in which the world was a quieter, happier place.Read more at:http://www.queenieprom.co.uk/prom-dresses-2017 | http://www.queenieprom.co.uk/high-low-prom-dresses