The next Chauhan to join the ranks was Samant
The next Chauhan to join the ranks was Samant, who started his show with an equally long AV about the pathetic plight of Bhagalpur weavers. One of the most exquisite and expensive silks to emerge out of India, Bhagalpuri silk is woven by craftsmen battling poverty. With Gandhiji's charkha proclaiming "Threads of fashion have today become haute fashion", the collection wove in the warp and weft of life and managed to translate the theme on to clothes.
Ironically, Samant's display was not without a Victorian hangover, the severity of the bygone and better-forgotten era portrayed in variations of the humble frock decorated with tonal embroidery and rugged edged piping, often teamed with skinny pants.
Off whites conveyed the quiet revolution, embellished with raw silk leg tie-ups and cocoons perched on models' heads.
In one instance, Samant even presented an entire ensemble of broken cocoons.
The silk hung with the fragility of a wilted rose that your first boyfriend awkwardly gave you, and now sleeps in the yellowed pages of a novel.
The menswear deserves a special mention, with Angarkhas shedding their royal feel to accommodate humility in texture; a refreshing change from the overtly embroidered and weighty ensembles available in stores.
Samant Chauhan
At: 1.30 pm
