Fashion: Festive glow

The recently concluded Lakme fashion week’s winter and festive edition introduced to us a wide spectrum of new and exciting shades, expanding our vision to look beyond the stereotypical red, green and yellow. Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute had predicted: “While comforting, enveloping colours and ease are crucial to the seasonal feeling, standout shades include a pale pink Ballet Slipper, a refreshing Golden Lime and a bright Marina blue. These hues add a striking touch when paired with the classic autumnal shades of Navy Peony, Neutral Gray, Butterrum and Tawny Port.” And so, we followed. 

Designer Manav Gangwani shares, “The primary colour palette that has always caught the eye during festive seasons are jewel tones. Having said that, ensembles with contrasting colours and textures are very much in fashion this season. Bold colours like emerald green, crimson red, ivory white and royal blue will always be classics. However, people now are open to mixing and matching different colours with textures to create interesting ensembles. So, there has been a shift towards the new colour palette.”

Creation by Anavila

Designer Nancy Luharuwalla of De Belle agrees and says that fashionistas eagerly wait for the festive season also because it’s that time of the year when everyone gets to dress up and show off all they’ve learnt about new trends. While most people still prefer traditional wear dipped in conventional hues when it comes to festivals but an increasing breed of designers and fashion enthusiasts are experimenting not only with ethnic Indian wear but also with unique hues to add a dash of contemporary style to their looks. “Festivals bring happiness and also bright colours like yellow, red, green but I feel that this year, Grenadine — a powerful, evocative, dynamic red; Tawny Port — another shade from the Red family; Ballet Slipper — another descended from the Red family but with a softer touch and rosy glow; Butterum — a toasty shade evocative of drinking a glass of Butterrum; Golden Lime — earthy tone with a twist; Marina — cool hue with an enhanced vitality; Autumn Maple — tawny and russet shade introducing warmth into the palette, will reign,” she says. 

Besides the new neutrals (Navy Peony — a solid and stable hue that takes some of the load off of black as a go-to neutral; Neutral Gray — the standard bearer of all neutrals that can be used as an accent or a head-to-toe statement shade), designer Aditi Somani shares that rich, opulent shades of champagne gold are a stand out choice for this season. “This hue adds a subtle luxury to not just lehengas, cholis and saris but also to a pair of palazzo pants. Soothing shades of cream are another favourite for the season. The neutral colour makes a fantastic base for all sorts of colour combinations and repels heat during all those fun dance floor hours. Cream coloured embroidered lucknowi and chikankari fabrics provide all the drama for the festive season without the heavy bogged down feeling from actual embellishments.” Lastly, Manav adds, “Old or new, keep it elegant. Adding too many colours will kill the beauty of an ensemble. It is important for one’s personality to reflect in attire.”