Bollywood, the largest film industry in the world, is known for two things - its song and dance routines and the colours of its couturier. The Bollywood designers are known to inspire national trends with their signature strokes for most of subcontinent, Asia and the Middle East audiences.
Bollywood designers face huge challenges - dictums of directors and divas besides the tastes of diverse demographics. This season ace designers Vikran Padnis and Manish Malothra drew skeins of inspiration from the red desert dunes and lush azure waters to sign in true' Cinema Style'.
Experimenting with several elements; partaking influences from everyday lives of social divas and petulant fashionista from across the globe, they take the sophistication and glamour and design individualistic ensembles that can be worn by the 'girl next door' and the 'screen goddess' alike.
Manish Malhotra is known to have dressed the most famous Bollywood stars; starting from Juhi Chawla who gave him a break with Swarg, but he shot into limelight with Rangeela and along with Urmilla Matondkar, Manish truly arrived with a reputation for designing the complete look!
Styling the image and character through his creativity Manish has swiftly become the sole design reference for the film-makers like Yash Chopra and Karan Johar. Since then he has created attire for women who are colloquially referred to as 'bombshells'- his muses- Kareena Kapoor, Kajol, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Sridevi, Dimple & Twinkle Kapadia to name a few.
Flirtiest Feminity is the central theme of the collection unveiled at the recent IIFA awards in Dubai. Net, crochet and lace highlighting ruffles and frills of the skirts; while nestled in the sparkle of Swarovski were silken skeins of embroidery.
Embellishments are subtle and sweet and prints predominate bringing out the signature style of Manish spoke of "grown up glamour". The finale saw Manish's new chic ambassador Rani Mukerji walk out to the dais in a beautiful amethyst and black fusion ensemble; escorted on stage by a beautifully jacketed Karan Johar and Manish Malhotra.
Vikram Padnis started his career as a choreographer and that is the influence that seems to carry through his collections as he plays with the Little Lolita Look. He managed to syncopate frilly frocks with pop-art and ornamental embroidery -perfect for an item number.
Setting off vibrant colours and fabrics - linens, duchesse satin, and organza - Vikram created a 'school girl meets showgirl look'. Repetitive were frills and flounces, sexy skin-tight attire that was perfectly carried by Ayesha Tikia -who looked like a dream in it. Padnis used his calling card by using the 'spirit of youth' as his corner motif and he managed to give even Feroze Khan that touch of freshness.

Images: The Wordsmiths