With a staggering 1.4 million followers on Instagram and 1.8 million on Twitter, Manish Malhotra is not just one of India’s most coveted couturiers but also the most followed Indian designer in the digital stratosphere. That evidently made the task easy for UAE’s Etihad Airways when it came to selecting an Indian designer to collaborate with.
On August 25, the first day of Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2016, Malhotra presented the country’s first virtual reality fashion show in association with the second largest airlines in the UAE.
The show broke geographical barriers to give viewers the excitement of actually being present at the show, from backstage to the front row, and the post-show. “The partnership with Etihad Airways extended beyond the show, where we captured the clothes on the runway using cutting-edge technology. This created a simulated virtual reality viewing experience for travellers flying with the airline,” says Malhotra.
A captive audience Malhotra admits that his significant presence in the UAE market with a flagship store in Dubai played a part in the collaboration.
“A large number of my clients are from UAE. They have a preference to wear Indian outfits with old-world craft. I see a lot of global influences in the clothes that also have a modern and contemporary interpretation. We have our presence at Studio 8 in Dubai and would like to start something new in Abu Dhabi as well,” he reveals.
Lakme Fashion Week (LFW), as a platform, has been special to the designer. “Both my label and my association with LFW turn 11 this year! So this season, we presented yet another milestone with a show that celebrated a couple of firsts. The Manish Malhotra label is the first Indian brand to partner with Etihad as well as the first Indian label to present a virtual reality fashion showcase. It’s a confluence of two future-forward brands,” Malhotra adds.
Crafting a collection The designer’s showcase of 70 handcrafted, opulent trousseau pieces shone the spotlight on Indian craftsmanship combined with modern silhouettes.
“The collection was for a stylish, young bridal entourage. There was resham thread work, clustered sequins and intricate hand embroidery on dramatic trails and off-shoulder capes with floral motifs. The pieces were replete with a vant-garde twists — there were jacket saris; lehengas paired with sheer crop blouses, and draped dupattas on contemporary anarkalis,” Malhotra reveals.
Elaborate detailed long tunics worn over cigarette pants and majestic, flowing backless gowns effortlessly married the classic with the contemporary — something that has been a Manish Malhotra signature over the years.
Reality bytes It’s perhaps this sensibility, along with his Bollywood clout, that places him way ahead of his contemporaries, certainly as far as the expanse of his digital fan base goes. But Malhotra says he doesn’t have a well-thought-out strategy for his digital success. “I don’t have any mantra as such. I like to learn and explore new avenues, and I believe that social media is a great platform to connect with people across the world,” he says.
This time, his showstoppers were an unusual Bollywood pair, Sushant Singh Rajput and Shraddha Kapoor. Malhotra dressed Kapoor in a resplendent deep green velvet lehenga paired with a thread work-embroidered crop blouse, and Rajput in a black bandhgala and white Jodhpur pants.
At 51, Malhotra doesn’t look a day over 30, and wields social-tech platforms like a millennial. He doesn’t hesitate to acknowledge the massive influence technology has had on fashion in the recent years. “In this day and age, technology is an integral part of our lives. The effects of this are apparent today when it comes to fashion. What you see on the runway is in your wardrobe in a few weeks,” he says.
The author is a freelance writer
An earlier version of this article had mentioned the company name as Etihad Airlines. It is now changed to Etihad Airways.
