A weird costume or dramatic make-up is just not the one factor accentuating a trend present nowadays. Be it elaborate set designs, artwork installations, dwell music or leisure, trend designers are breaking out of their mould and getting modern with their exhibits.

Today, trend exhibits are bolder and experimental in design and execution. The ramp has additionally change into a theatrical set and designers are capitalising on dwell music and costumes that comply with a robust narrative. The extra intense the music and design philosophy, the higher it resonates with the viewers and the designer’s story round his or her assortment.

Music to the rescue

For pianist Sahil Vasudeva, dwell music is sort of a movie which must be in sync with the idea and route, the highs and lows, the crescendo and pressure factors of a present. “Live music can infuse energy in a fashion show and connect with the audience. It works like a soul in an act which recorded sound cannot replace,” says Vasudeva, who caresses the keys of his piano for exhibits to convey Indian and western tunes alive.

Vasudeva, who performed at JJ Valaya’s present on the India Couture Week earlier in July, synced melodious music with the origin of the designer’s embroidered sarees and belted sherwanis. Keeping in thoughts Valaya’s season assortment ‘Alma’, which implies ‘soul’ in Spanish, the story behind each piece was an overlaying inspiration of Spain in conventional motifs, floral hair buns, costumes of the matadors in brief jackets, the motifs on the manton scarf or the patterns of the hand fan referred to as pericon dramatically interwoven with Indian craft and embroidery strategies. For this rendition, Vasudeva transcribed the scores of Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual, one of many foremost composers of the post-Romantic period, greatest recognized for his piano works primarily based on Spanish folks music idioms.

Also Read: Winter is coming: Tips you should follow to have healthy and glowing skin

Designer Dolly J, who launched dwell jazz singer Shreya Bhattacharya, wearing a customized robe and pink lips, a lot to enrich her design philosophy in wealthy western silhouettes and Indian embroideries, additionally feels trend exhibits are a visible narrative of the aesthetics and beliefs of a model. The setup on the present was all in pink and dramatic, and had tables arrange like a Parisian café. “Live singing sets the mood, and music has the power to transport the audience into a different era in time. Our singer provided the authentic experience of a 90’s New York jazz bar, a complete immersion into the glamorous nostalgia of the time. The music accentuates the walk it accompanies, it ebbs and flows with every movement, and in doing so it brings out the intricacies of the garment. We wanted to highlight the beauty of the show and collective experience with our set and sound for the evening,” says Dolly J.

All set for extra

The leisure quotient goes a notch excessive with artwork and enthralling set designs. Puma returned to New York Fashion Week in September this 12 months with a ‘Futrograde’ present that mixes trend, music and sports activities. The present appeared on the model’s heritage mixing bodily and digital parts and showcasing the Puma household by means of collaborations and particular appearances.

“Returning to fashion week for the first time in several years is significant for us because we knew we needed the right combination of factors to be present. With an emphasis on digital, a great line-up of ambassadors and an amazing creative partner in June Ambrose, the foundation and creativity for a great show are there. And we’re excited that this can be the moment for us to bring it to life,” says Adam Petrick, chief model officer of Puma.

On a mean, all of the glitz and glamour, over 30-50 ensembles, music and ramp design can price from `30 lakh to `1 crore relying on the designers’ finances. However, a set design is like an art work that may remodel the house into one thing immersive and exquisite. It may be employed to elicit a temper, an phantasm, or a thought. Runway set design may be as inventive because the designers need it to be.

“It can be one who strives to imagine settings or bring someone else’s philosophy to life and apply it. Scenic, theatrical, and stage design are all different terms used to describe set design. But what is most important is it should be functional for the purpose it serves. These days set designers use technology like lights, graphics, multimedia effects,” says Mahesh Kumar Sharma, who has designed units for the final 20 years for designer like Sabyasachi, JJ Valaya, Tarun Tahiliani, Suneet Varma, Anju Modi, Manish Malhotra, Anamika Khanna and extra.

Beyond runways

Designers at the moment are taking their exhibits to areas past runways to present an additional edge and oomph. In the previous, US clothier Rebecca Minkoff has had stellar performances making her exhibits appear to be gigs. Janelle Monae, Wild Cub and Little Daylight are amongst a number of artistes who’ve taken the makeshift stage. But the primary, again in 2012, remains to be the very best up to now—American rapper Theophilus London carried out his hit I Stand Alone whereas fashions tried —and endearingly failed—to withstand the urge to bounce.

Similarly, in May, Chanel’s Cruise 2023 present was organised on a seashore in Monte Carlo to current the season’s cruise assortment with fashions strolling in Chanel’s monogrammed heels on sand. The look was impressed by the cosmopolitan seashore way of life of Monaco and Chanel’s historical past in silhouettes with swimsuits, sequins, and ensembles.

Some of the very best breakout performances have stood the take a look at of time by performing dwell and strolling the catwalk. Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington Burns collectively at Versace’s Fall 1991 catwalked and grooved to George Michael’s Freedom! ’90. Pop star Dua Lipa walked at Versace’s fall 2021 moreover different superstar faces like Madonna, Elton John, and Lady Gaga.

From designer Jeremy Scott, inventive director for Moschino presenting his spring/summer time 2021 assortment in a puppet present format, to Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda present that marks the tenth anniversary of Alta Moda this 12 months, ramp exhibits are additionally bringing a story. The Sicily present of Dolce & Gabbana was a tell-tale of an historical Greek theatre staged with Italian composer Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, a Nineteenth-century one act opera.

Meanwhile, designer Rahul Mishra’s express wearable artwork couture in 3D embroidery on billowing silhouettes not solely makes him a champion of sluggish trend with conventional Indian crafts however the first Indian designer to showcase on the Paris Haute Couture Week in 2020. His interpretations are giant and monumental sculptural silhouettes. The Shape of Air, a group at Couture Fall 2021/22, is a recreation of couture displaying the Aegean Sea, blue sky by means of the streets of Santorini. Also, the cityscape, the structure that’s distinctive to town, rendered in silken threads like Lego blocks fastened atop a volcanic rock in his design sense and artistic present.

A superb spectacle that was price watching was by designer Amit Aggarwal, who selected to transform an auditorium inside Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium right into a trend runway for his present at FDCI’s India Couture Week 2022. His present had the viewers sit across the stage and fashions moved down the aisle on lingering music sounds.

Similarly, Varun Bahl’s present titled ‘New Leaf’ was actually a nature stroll with décor and gown taking parts from the wilderness of the forests—floral embroideries, wealthy materials, and basic upcycled patchwork.

Another one was a potpourri of Indian tradition by designer Anju Modi in her bling and floral designs. But this time it introduced an innovation. The present was a walk-in ramp for viewers and fashions, the place all 4 sides of the room have been used within the backdrop for a display screen presentation of various journey locations in India. There was no chair to sit down down on. The viewers walked alongside the ramp coated with rocks, pine bushes and working movies of Kashmir Valley, mountains on display screen with fashions who appeared like an artwork set up contained in the room.

For designers, the selection of celebrities has additionally modified. From actor Rajkummar Rao and singer Guru Randhawa to actor-director Farhan Akhtar and actress Rashmika Mandana, who alone has over 30 million followers on social media, business consultants are capitalising on the new-age showstoppers for the season.

Post-pandemic scene

Such acts have now change into a standard characteristic of trend exhibits, particularly for the reason that pandemic, as trend homes consider extra methods to be inventive. Storytelling is one other approach that encompasses set design, couture, and fashions. Designer duo Falguni and Shane Peacock have collections influenced by the wealthy French tapestries and artworks from the Renaissance interval. So, the color palette of the gathering ranges from champagne ivory, pale blush, pink parfait, previous rose to metallic stone inexperienced, gilded gold, and opal whites. Embellished face veils have made ladies fashions flip like dolls dressed up in opera-and-fairy-like-gowns.

Blame the pandemic for maintaining us away from engrossing and dwell gigs within the final two years, bodily trend exhibits at the moment are a welcome change for the fraternity, upping the enjoyable and glamour quotient and furthermore, restoring purchaser confidence. “It’s true that we’ve been away from bodily exhibits for greater than two years. But dwell acts are all the time welcoming. With emotion, creativity and 

experimentation — all on runways, the contact and really feel of the product is important which supplies designers a push to create extra and in return the patrons are additionally pleased,” says Sunil Sethi, chairman of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), a non-profit impartial affiliation of trend designers.