Season staples
The third day of DFW saw designers reach for both religious and natural inspiration in their quest for sartorial brilliance
It's become an unfortunate trend that designers end their shows with what's called a "showstopper". While that's all good for the theatrical haute couture shows, where drama and surprise are the name of the game, ready-to-wear should be about showing a well-rounded collection. If it's good enough, the crowd will be wowed by the collective genius of your two dozen or so designs. Relying on a final gigantic poufy dress to make sure guests walk away awed is a bit of a cheap trick, in my opinion.
On Tuesday night however, there was a showstopper of sorts, and a welcome one in so many ways: Hassan Sheheryar Yasin's marine-inspired collection, which triumphantly closed the third day of fashion week.
After a day of long jersey maxi dresses laden with embroidery from designers including Ekta Singh and Beeas, HSY's sharp tailoring was refreshing. After all, don't women wear the trousers too?
HSY
- Hit: Tailoring — clean, sharp and sexy
- Misses: Accessories didn't quite sum up the summer spirit — knee-length boots by the beach in August?
Yasin's collection — the first to feature his new sportswear line — was, he said, inspired by the sea and the sense of spirituality he's often felt on its shores. That translated immediately into a blue-and-white day dress cut from an Islamic-inspired fabric.
Yasin referenced Sufism and the mosques of Istanbul in the textiles, which stayed within a palette of blues, white and grey.
"A focus is important," Yasin said after the show. "You can pick one piece from this show and wear it with something else over and over. It's got to be wearable." That meant tight jeans — for guys and girls, a beautifully-cut leather jacket that fit like a second skin, and dresses that were cut close for a body-conscious fit, like a grey silk look that got the thumbs up from the crowd.
Ekta Singh
- Hits: Hot Club Tropicana colours
- Misses: The cuts need some more work
Embroidery is Ekta's USP, and she doesn't cut corners. The New-Delhi-based designer was keen to play up the quality of the handmade beading and stitching on her series of maxi-dresses and jelabiyas — and truly, it is beautiful — but the dresses the embroidery is placed on deserve a little more time too. While every girl needs a few hot maxi-dresses in her wardrobe, a few variations on a wearable day dress would also have been welcomed.
