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Indian fashion industry continues to sway Europe

Ranvir Nayar in Paris

India seems to be the emerging theme of the ``La Semaine de la Haute Couture’’ or 'Week of High Fashion' that is currently underway in Paris.

The week, which witnesses all the top labels of the fashion world gather in Paris and display their latest collections, is currently on in Paris and a number of fashion designers have turned to India for inspiration.

Major fashion labels source a lot of their work from India, especially the embroidery on their garments and jewellery worn by the models. French designer Jean Paul Gaultier took Indomania to new heights during his show held at a reputed hotel in Paris earlier this week.

And it began from the name of the collection itself, which Gaultier termed `Routes vers des Indes’ (the routes to India). And saffron was the colour of the day. The carpets were saffron as were the small tags attached to the seats to indicate names.

And the whole place was lined with oil lamps, Diwali style. The show began with two Indian women, dressed in saffron sarees, who showered the entire ramp and the sitting place with rose petals.

And all the 50-odd dresses that formed part of the collection were given Indian names -- ranging from Patiala, Apsara and Simla to Juhu Beach, Durbar and Rickshaw. All the models sported the Patkas or the turbans worn by Sikh boys. While most of the models wore western clothes, they were Indian in style and appearance as well. A few models also wore sarees, choli and ghaghra as well as salwar kameez.

The dresses were not only made from Indian textiles but also dyed, cut and stylised in India, with the entire work of embroidery done by Indian artisans. The models also wore jewellery, sourced from all over India, giving the show an entirely ethnic look.

Gaultier said his latest collection was dedicated to India and was aimed at the Parisian woman in India. ``Anyone who goes to India can not come back without deep and lasting impressions about the country. The vibrant colours, the huge variety of garments and the fantastic embroidery, just sweeps you off your feet. And that is what has happenned to me,’’ says Gaultier.

Praising the Indian saree, Gaultier says it is the most sensual dress for a woman. ``You can drape it across your body in various fashions. And it is a tremendously and exquisitely feminine dress that brings out the best in a woman. It is a wonderful dress,’’ says Gaultier.

While Gaultier was basking in his Indian summer collection, half the way across Paris, India’s sole representative in the global leaders of haute couture too returned to retrace his roots in search of inspiration for his latest collection of garments.

Hemant Sagar, partner in the reputed haute couture label, LeCoanet-Hemant, has been inspired tremendously by Orissa, which forms the basis of the Spring-Summer 2000 collection of LeCoanet-Hemant.

Large ear rings, dresses using sea shells and the embroidery -- typical of Orissa -- were the highlight of the 30-odd garments that were displayed at the 33rd exposition of the LeCoanet Hemant brand.

Although the dresses were very largely western in their cuts and looks, each of them had a very clear inspiration from India.

``This extraordinary trip starts with the faraway population of Orissa, in the very depths of India, which formed the initial source of our inspiration. Where the women wear sheets of pearls and from this scintillating cascade of crystals, mixed with shells, springs this collection which is light like a breath but which also reveals in details the immensity of our planet,’’ is how Sagar prefers to describe his latest collections.

Sagar, who is the best-known Indian in the global haute couture circles, was born to a German mother and a Punjabi father in Delhi. He completed his education in New Delhi, before moving over to Paris in the early 80s, when he joined hands with a French designer, le Coanet, to create a new brand in the world of haute couture -- LeCoanet Hemant.

And less than two decades later, Sagar and his brand are firmly entrenched in this highly competitive world. ``In the fashion world, he is right there at the top. I believe among the top 15 labels in the world,’’ remarks an admiring Ritu Beri, who has received a lot of help from Sagar in coordinating the production facilities for her show in Paris recently.

Sagar feels that India has always been in fashion. He says that the first India wave hit the fashion industry in Paris as early as the 1910s and since then, India has been present in some form or the other.

He says that the waves of Indian influence always keep flooding the global fashion scene. ``India will never disappear from the world of haute couture. There is so much there. So much to inspire and so much to learn from. So from time to time, someone or the other will keep bringing something very Indian in their collections,’’ Sagar said.

And, of course, there was the Ritu Beri show, which had 30 dresses from her latest collection, which received a lot of praise from the French media for the use of soft colours, lovely embroidery and good cuts. In the words of a fashion critic with a leading French fashion magazine, ``This truly is the Indian Semaine de la Haute Couture.’’

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