What’s trending at fashion shows in India?
Lately, Indian fashion designers have been making their models do the catwalk without shoes. This bare feet act has been catching eyeballs and making unique fashion statements in a world that has a party of shoe addicts.
Try imagining a row of models cat-walking down a long-sleek ramp while adorning the latest haute couture range by some famed designer. Imagine all aspects of it – unique designs, fancy hairstyles, shimmering make-up, cameras flashing and all eyes on them until the eyes roll down to notice the models’ bare-feet!
Unalike of the usual ramp-walk norms which demand women models to step in steep heels, Indian fashion designers are going out there bare and rather refreshingly so.
Complementing their designs, which often revolve around the themes of easiness, earthy factors, nature and rawness, fashion designers in India are making their models kick-off their shoes and walk down the ramps barefoot.
The idea of making the models step into escalated shoe platforms or high-heels has always been to make them appear more poised and tall while making their calf muscles appear slimmer. Not heeding these conventions and breaking the norms, fashion designers and models are now setting new ramp-trends.
At the Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2017, which was recently held in Mumbai, designer Gauri Pathre of Wandering Whites chose to make her models walk down the ramp without any shoes, keeping it simple and close to her theme. “Because, my collection of accessories was very earthy… I have kept it very natural… I really wanted the models to go barefoot to feel the earth,” Pathre told the press.
This is not the first time that a designer has resorted to something of this nature and taken a bold and bare step.
Models walking barefoot for Daniel Syiem’s collection ‘Breathe Easy’
Last year, at the India Runway Week, fashion designer Daniel Syiem from North-East India showcased his collection ‘Breathe Easy’ on similar lines. Explaining the act, he told Media India Group that no shoes for the walk symbolised comfort, easiness and an affinity with nature. Syiem, who extensively works with organic silks from the North-East of India, had made his apparel and jewellery designs, and presentations speak of nature and comfort and the idea of making the models walk barefoot just blended with the theme and the garments.
A couple of years ago, at another season of Lakmé Fashion Week, designer Anavila Misra had re-crafted the definition of ramp-fashion. Misra made her models walk barefoot with the idea of showcasing her sarees draped in a simple style and communicate the message of daily life’s simplicity. As reported, the idea was drawn out of rural India’s lifestyles, where walking barefoot and physically in touch with nature and mother earth is still daily-routine and not a staged show.
The source of inspiration for such a bold and bare fashion act seems to be varied. While for some it coincides with the theme of their designs and for some it is about coming close to nature, it is, anyway, making a unique fashion statement in itself.
