Fuss-free designs are the new favourite

With sombre fabrics and sparse silhouettes, Indian designers are now maximising the minimalist style
A little less than a year ago, the layered shift dress Kiran Rao wore to a screening of the film Queen would have been deemed dull, and notched up to the director's eclectic style, by the front benchers. That is, until Vogue India rechristened it as “fuss-free designs with a perfectionist's eye“.The dress designer, 26-yearold Ruchika Sachdeva, has with her three-year-old label Bodice steered clear of Indian fashion clichés -colour, bling, opulence -but it was only a few months earlier that she won the magazine's coveted fashion fund prize of Rs 25 lakh.“Others may find my customer under-dressed, but she is willing to take risks in order to express her individuality through clothes,“ says Sachdeva, 26, of her muse.
Pared down chic may be an established trend in the West, but it is fairly new in India, which has always been big on bling. Now a new crop of designers like Sachdeva, MiuNiku, HUEMN by Pranav Mishra & Shyma Shetty, Selvage by Chandni Mohan, Frou Frou by Archana Rao, EKA, Mrinalini by Mrinalini Gupta, Soup by Sougat Paul and more are sweeping the fashionscape off beads and baubles and drawing neat lines.
Sachdeva's Autumn Winter 2014 collection, sparse with sombre colours, wasn't unique in its absence of embroidery, zari, beads, sequins or any other kind of ornamentation. Models walking the ramp in shabby chic dominated by sombre greys, whites, browns and blacks are de rigueur today, a far call from the heavy glitter of Manish Malhotra or colourful, manic energy of Manish Arora. In May last year, an unknown brand called MiuNiku made headlines when its exaggerated silhouettes and graphic colour-blocking bagged the 2014 LVMH Young Fashion Designer Prize (A 1,00,000 euros grant and one year mentorship within LVMH). Owned by sisters Tina and Nikita Sutradhar, graduates from the London College of Fashion, the label got noticed by an international jury for the way it broke an ethnic stereotype.
David Abraham, co-owner of label Abraham and Tha kore, says, “The new generation of designers are more interested in fabric and silhouettes. They have no taste for bling.“ Most of these designers have been educated abroad, have inculcated a Western design sensibility and service well-travelled clients with global tastes.
Dhruv Kapoor, a 27-yearold designer who launched his label DRVV in late 2013, is unapologetic about his dislike for colour. On his Facebook page, he's uploaded a photo from a magazine shoot with Neha Dhupia, where the ac tress wears an uncluttered black jersey dress and a black jacket with quilted cuffs and accentuated collar. There's also a short video of a fashion show where models flaunt uncluttered dresses, skirts and shorts in dual tones -black and white -with minimal primping -a simple contrast piping, or a crop top tapering off with sheer fabric.
Kapoor, a graduate from the London School of Economics, insists his design sensibility is post-modern with emphasis on functionality. He points out that his first collection was influenced by the character of Howard Roark in Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. “His idea of modern, minimal, functional architecture inspired me to use geometrical shapes that don't cling to the body ... creating fluidity in structure,“ says Kapoor.
Functionality trumps fuss in Nimish Shah's creations as well. An alumnus of London College of Fashion, Shah launched his label Shift in 2011. “Our clothes are for working women who look for functionality in their clothing -can they be hand-washed, do they need ironing?“ says Shah, who prefers attitude and swagger in clothes over indulgence. Sonam Kapoor, Kalki Koechlin are among the celebrities who wear his chic creations.
Minimalism makes maximum business sense today . As Shah explains, “Bridal trousseau and night wear market segment is over-saturated with too many players. But the daywear segment is relatively untapped and promises good returns. Women are spending more on daywear, office wear now,“ says Shah.
Minimal fashion also costs less. On Per nia's Pop-Up Shop, an online curated fashion site, bling-free designs start at Rs 5,000 going up to Rs 20,000, while the blingy stuff starts at Rs 10,000 and going up to a lakh upwards.