The 8th edition of TGIF Nepal Fashion Week (NFW) had it (almost) all—glitz, glamour and people. Sadly, there was a big void when it came to creativity—the real fashion. Like last year, NFW was a mixed bag of mediocre craftsmanship and a few good designs scattered here and there.[break]
However, from last year, the number of designers was cut down from 113 to 79. This made space for better designs to be registered.
We also saw less play of unnecessary detailing, such as bows and rosettes, that ruined designs in previous NFWs. Thanks to the supervision of Bethany Meuleners, the fashion consultant for this year’s fashion week.
The themes and works, however, put me through a déjà vu as satin mermaid gowns with pleating or recurring themes refused to leave the sight. And often it seemed as if mimicking had taken precedence over innovation.
Focusing on good designs
Despite all the right ingredients, the first day started with rather a somber note hinting that the following days would be no different. Out of six collections, the only saving grace was the new fashion label Oodini and natural clothing line Karuna.
Oodini displayed heavily embellished kurtas and lehengas. But again one would be left searching for Nepali elements in them as the collection shared a lot of affinity to Indian wear.
Karuna’s tiered overcoat, pashmina shawl and basic cardigans were the saviors. The fashion house, however, failed to deliver in men’s department.
This edition’s Bangladeshi designer Emdad Hoque didn’t live up to the expectation with its crushed cotton apparels as last year’s designer Aneela Haque from the same country had raised the bar.
Her Chinese sliding buttons and scriptures which were in tune with South Asian silhouette are still fresh in mind.
As it was predicted, the second day also could not do much justice in the design section. Out of nine collections, the first sequence, Buzi Api’s two sheaths could only qualify as something wearable and original.
The first grey dress with black detailing and white dress with grey patch works could fit in any yuppie fashionista’s closet.
There was nothing so out of ordinary about the designs until the fourth day. Nilima Maden, the 3rd year IEC student surely left an impression with her collection, Runway Report. She won at last year’s IEC designer contest. If given a better exposure, Maden carries the potential of being a prominent homegrown designer.
She was amongst the few student designers who worked alone, rather than in a group. Her first gown with Dhaka shoulder detailing, futuristic Madonna-esque dress and blue layered coat were something that we could see bloggers like Kristin Knox sporting.
Sheela Shrestha’s leather and lace combo dress was one of the designs, out of twenty, that also left the mark.
It shared similarities with 3.1 Philip Lim’s leather sleeved peekaboo lace dress.
On the last day of NFW, Bethany had sported an A-line Dhaka skirt that she designed herself. There I was left contemplating: Why can’t a homegrown designer be creative in terms of interplaying local resources and ideas, be it of anywhere?
However, when it comes to executing theory in practice, we’ve often heard designers talk about fabric constraints and challenges.
But if one decides to show a collection or plans to become a designer, these are just mere excuses.
At the end of the day, it’s the creativity and craftsmanship that does the talking on the designer’s behalf, regardless of the fabric quality.
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