New York Fashion Week 2011

We’ve all heard of Lakme Fashion Week, It’s one of the biggest fashion shows to ever take place in India. However, just recently New York Fashion Week held in Manhattan New York took place during the days of September 9th-16th 2011.

While the streets of New York were filled with fashionistas watching designers, brands, and “houses” show-off their latest collections on runways, one designer duo in particular which stood out the most to us, would have to be Indian duo Sachin + Babi Ahluwalia.

Sachin and Babi were formally known for their existing company, ANK embroideries, where they designed and manufactured designer embroideries for some of the biggest fashion houses. In addition, the incredible duo also have a luxurious home furnishing collection that they’ve been running for the past 4 years, called Ankasa. After designing various home furnishing collections, Sachin and Babi took designing to a next level and decided to launch their own RTW brand to provide trendy couture products to the contemporary girl.

Babi Ahluwalia says of their most favourite part of their creative process: “Sachin and I love talking about our ideas and translating them from pen and paper to cloth.”

This year at NYFW, the couple presented a clean cut and classic collection. Using hues of greys and whites the duo threw in flashes of bold, piercing colors in their garments. The collection brought out a youthful and playful perspective in addition to using shades of greys and whites, the dynamic duo splashed in a few corals, yellows and cobalt blue. The cuts in the entire collection gave off a hipster look to the wonderfully tailored collection.

From dresses, tubular maxi skirts, zippered jackets, laser cut black leather skirts and the use of 80’s sleeveless shirts. To the use of silk fabrics and managing to add leather into every piece of article in their collection, the use of leather and silk fabrics helped present Sachin and Babi’s overall theme of modern luxury onto the runways of New York Fashion Week.

Along with our Indian designer duo, we thought we would share some of our favourite western designers with you all. First on the list, is no other then the amazing Ralph Lauren.

Ralph Lauren who first designed the costumes for the film The Great Gatsby in his early days of designing, decided to do a tribute this year to the roaring 20s and The Great Gatsby in his NYFW Summer 2012 collection.

Lauren’s collection featured everything from pant suits, satin shoes, jumpsuits, flapper dresses, elegant 1920s inspired hats, along with luxurious scarves.

The models walked onto the runway and wowed the audience by showcasing a variety of colors, prints, materials, styles and textures. The collection definitely brought out the true meaning behind what a modern girl in today’s society thinks of when she hears the term “vintage fashion.”

Whenever Proenza Schouler shows off a collection at NYFW, the designer duo behind the label always states that they always visit a new destination to get inspiration for their next collection.After examining their NYFW 2012 collection, it seems like a majority of their safari inspired collection was based on inspiration founded in Africa.

Proenza Schouler designers, Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough presented an exotic collection which featured zebra prints, with splashes of browns, greens, blues, nudes, all used in short tailored suits. The collection also showcased midriff baring cuts, pencil skirts slashed to the thighs, various floral and striped prints and in addition to that we also saw a few 1940s inspired pieces.

Not only did the duo present 1940’s inspired pieces, but they also incorporated crotchet wool, sarong style skirts, leather gloves, black dresses with cut panels, embellished silks along with Hawaiian and pacific inspired couture into their beautiful collection.

Last but not least on our list is no other then Oscar De La Renta who kicked his fashion show off onto a very dramatic note. Silk taffeta ball gowns dominated the collection. The entire runway gave off a bit of seventies feel. Along with floral designs came vibrant jewel tones, and lace vests. The main hues of the night appeared to be marigold, white, shades of red along with emerald green. One very unique design that Oscar pulled off very well was incorporating a cropped top and taffeta ball gown skirt together.

Like always, Oscar De La Renta managed to stun the crowd with his new elegant but very modern summer 2012 collection.

Here are some photos from the 2011 New York Fashion Week.