Amazon India Fashion Week 2015 continues: Bodice, Péro and Gaurav Gupta

Ruchika Sachdev’s oeuvre with Bodice is, in the designer’s own words, “a refined and edited look”. And she doesn’t fail to bring the fine back into refined at her A/W 2016 AIFW collection.
Her clothes for the new season took an idea set into motion years ago to its logical evolution.
“When I started the brand, every time I would go out to shop for clothes, it was always too much, and I always wished something or the other wasn’t there. What I try to do (with Bodice) is to edit. To cut down what’s not required. When you can look at a garment and think you can’t take away anything, and have that belief you don’t have to add anything, that’s what I do. It’s a very pared-down aesthetic, but still noticeable. You don’t have to do too much, or try too hard,” the designer weighed in, post show.
Simplicity and acceptance remain, as her lookbook states, important for the Bodice woman. Photographer Prarthna Singh, a long-time patron and photographer for the brand, feels that Bodice is not just a label, it’s a journey.
“Her show is a result of her love for clothing for women who think differently today, and for women who know their mind, and are ready to experiment,” said Singh. “Every element, carefully thought out for months, came together beautifully on the runway.”
And in each square dress, oversized shirt or culottes, the audience felt that emphasis in the melee of otherwise loud Indian fashion shows.
Monochrome palettes of copper and rust reinvented Sachdev’s classic whites, blacks and greys, while patterns created texture, and the batik polka dot became a recurring motif, on old Bodice favourites. These “building blocks for the wardrobe”, or “updated essentials”, Sachdev explains, are staples that can be styled in a hundred ways. En Ende’s structured jewellery and Sachdev’s sister’s recently launched bag collection, accompanied the clothes.
Bodice’s own evolution happens from collecting items as she designs. “An indigo dyeing guy in Pondicherry, my own old fabric or my old products inspire me to keep evolving. Like an oversized shirt. I think, ‘okay this is boring, what can I do, maybe put a panel?’ That’s inspiration for me!” says the designer.
Aside from the impeccable tailoring and small piping and seam details that appeared on every ensemble, 80 per cent of the Bodice collection was quietly handloom. A fact they didn’t making a brouhaha about, so design was never compromised on.
Péro - War and Peace
Nostalgia proliferated at Aneeth Arora’s A/W 2016 show, which opened with the kilt-wearing Madras Regiment bagpiper band. The Péro show was an exploration of “the stories of real people, and their alter lives, the lives they breathe when they put on their uniforms”.
Attempting to initiate dialogue between two alter egos, Péro and Princess Pea (her mascot, muse and collaborator for the evening), Arora set forth with the belief that every alter ego needs a uniform. And so the dance of war and peace commenced as models in army like uniforms walked the ramp clutching Princess Pea dolls, large curls tucked into their military hats, knee-high socks and frills and flowers peeking out from under tartan dresses and khaki jackets. Arora explained that her use of uniforms – olive green army jackets, trousers, hats and boots, insignia inspired embroidery abounded – was to spread peace as a message, while the mix of lace with military jackets was a nod to the androgynous trend sweeping ramps.