Painting a journey of fashion in the world of Bollywood from black and white era to the contemporary, designer Debarun Mukherjee gave a cinematic twist to the ramp of 2015 edition of Amazon India Couture Week (AICW) here.
The designer did this on Saturday while celebrating the legacy of Indian cinema through his collection with stars Chitrangada Singh and Aditi Rao Hydari.
He stirred up things at the venue with the tune and groove of songs like "Afsana likh rahi hun", "Chalte chalte yunhi koi", "Dum maro dum" and "Chaiyya chaiyya" and popular film dialogues adding to the whole experience.
Starting from black and white era with show-stopper Aditi, who looked coy and demure in a grey lehenga-choli with sky-like shimmery net dupatta and added a bling factor with hair accessory, the show segued through different phases narrating the evolution of fashion in cinema.
"Indian cinema was my inspiration. I have retained the contemporary style, but I have looked through the hour glass time and have tried to put contemporary style to that era to see how it would look. I have taken eight decades and put them into five slots," Debarun told reporters post the show.
The designer presented his collection at the fourth day of the five-day fashion gala.
The story starts with the black and white sagas of 1930 and 1940s. It then moved on to the colour era of 1950s and 1960s. The palette then intensified to the technicolour decades of 1970s and 1980s, graduating to restraint of the 1990s.
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The colour era was introduced with "Mughal-e-Azam" song "Jab pyar kiya to darna kya" and was ruled by the intricate detailing of zardozi, beaded work, thread embroideries and appliques in floral, trellis and ornate motifs.
A kaleidoscope of light made way for technicolour decade of the 1970's and 1980's with track of "Dum maro dum". Amid the play of light, models walked on dialogues from Amitabh Bachchan's "Don".
Colour palette of teal green, golden, sapphire blue and purple dominated the 1990s era, with "Chaiyya chaiyya" and "Kehne ko jashn-e-bahaara hai" depicting the current era.
Chitrangada, wore a beige lehenga-choli with maroon motifs and green net dupatta, noted that Debarun has been honest with his work and has succeeded in bringing the glitz and glamour of showbiz on ramp.
"I saw the whole show backstage and I didn't know that there were so many different colours to it. The collection actually looked like it is inspired from cinema. Sometimes the inspiration you see on ramp is different and we try to connect, but this was very honest depiction of what he is saying," Chitrangada said.
The designer drew inspiration for Chitrangada's outfit from the colour riot of Bengal and film "Devdas".
The tempo of the songs increased as models took over the ramp. The backdrop changed with the eras with sometimes bringing the interiors of a palace into spotlight to finding way to the mustard fields of the Hindi silver screen.
The body languages of models also changed with era from being coy in the early stage to bold in the contemporary era.
Aditi was happy with her ensemble as the vintage element took away her hearts. "I'm in love with the outfit as it is light, flowy and yet looks so much of a vintage," Aditi said.
Chitrangada was also all praise for Aditi. Talking about her fellow show-stopper, Chitrangada said: "Aditi looked lovely and pretty. Both the outfits are Indian and ethnic, but are yet so different."
With hues of black, white, grey and splashes of yellow, pink, blue, red and orange, the range comprised of handwoven textiles, silks and velvet.
However, there were minor glitches as the show moved towards its end as a model and Aditi tumbled due to their outfit while coming out for the last round on the ramp.