Takeaways from Lakmé Fashion Week Summer-Resort 2020

Is drag becoming a drag?

Manish Arora’s drag showcase 'We Are Family' was inspired by the reading down of the Indian Penal Code’s Section 377, love and equality. While still a relevant, inclusive subject, maybe it is time to look beyond drag queens as the only inflection point between queerness and fashion.

Indian techniques, modernly made

Designers are reinterpreting traditional crafts in novel ways. Eka’s Rina Singh worked with the Telangana State Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Society to showcase ikat weaves as singular patterns, like paint splotches. Ashdeen Lilaowala showcased gara and the House of Three worked with kanjeevaram and jamdani

New ways to shine

While Pankaj & Nidhi’s sequins were made from recycled PET plastic, the edition’s grand finale designer, Amit Aggarwal, sculpted garments out of recycled polymers, showing mindful ways of embodying glamour

Undone with denim

The classic, utilitarian textile surfaced in various iterations. But it was Rohit Bal’s embroidered denim jeans on shirtless models, from his new ready-to-wear brand Balance, that caught the eye.

Gen Next misses the mark

Most designers seemed too caught up with technical details, without clarity on what their aesthetics signified. An exception was Graine, who borrowed inspiration from the silver foil on Indian mithais and translated it into zardozi handwork on discarded rubber-tyre embellishments