India as a resort. Game?

India-inspired resort wear

It is so amazing — All the hype, the buzz, the energy that the days preceding the fashion week carry with it. With just a few weekdays left to hit the Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2010 to start form March 5 - 9, there is this tingling anticipatory feeling down the spine about 'God! I wonder what's in store'.
And that's the reason why I turn into a sleuth-scribe of sorts. I enthusiastically go through look books (booklets which have designs of the collection with details of cuts, fabrics and mentions of initiatives such as going organic, inspirations etc with it) and special mailers which come to us about the collections that will be showcased. I sit down and make mental notes just the way a kid would want to colour the Sun in a shade different from yellow, may be in blue...
Honestly, to me, the theme of Resort Wear is all about easy clothing and it's so Mumbai in its spirit of a free, evolved, raring-to-go-woman of this dream city. In fact, designer Vikram Phadnis says that resort wear is not about bikinis and shorts, it's about easy wearability. And that's going to work on the ramp and on the racks. People will see. (Maybe, we need to see how successful the week will be truly in terms of the buyers).
And in between my look book glances, my assumptions start to take shape. I had assumed that design inspirations of most participating designers at LFW would be resorts around the world. You know, like the seaweeds, the islands, the seashells as motifs, the colours of the nature and more. But to my delight, I am almost wrong. The inspirations are mostly 'Indian'. A beautiful blend of the garments' contemporary utilitarian sensibility with a keen note of desirability as its core strength come across in the pictures. Sounds promising already.
Examples are essential and so allow me to reveal what designer Anand Kabra from Hyderabad is going to do on the LFW 2010 show. He will wrap his weaves with a social message as well on the ramp. He shall fuel the ramp show with the narrative of Draupadi in ‘The Palace of Illusions’, by Chitra Banerji Divakaruni. His collection ‘She Was So Dark That She Was Blue’ draws parallels between the River Krishna and Krishnaa.
Later, adding a peppy note will be designer Anupama Dayal, the perky, sensible and commercially successful designer. She is set to the paint the ramp in spice greens, dancing reds, fire pinks, kingfisher blues and marbled colours woven effortlessly in fabrics including tie-dyed leheriyas, shiboris, chiffons and georgettes.
Dubai-based Kashmiri designer Pria Kataria Puri has derived inspiration from the beauty of Maharani Gayatri Devi. And so the ramp will hold a royal appeal. Anita Dongre shall successfully deliver her punch as she makes her last minutes nips and tucks to the new range to celebrate Rajasthan again in myriad shades.

Girl With the Blue Scarf says: Do an honest self-survey — How many of us thought of resort wear as anything more than a bikini set? Truth is most of us did. And good news is LFW Summer/Resort 2010 may just change your perspective... Ready?

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