Aisha Rao presented her collection ‘Priyasi’ on the last day of the FDCI Hyundai India Couture Week, with a showcase that felt fun, fresh, and vibrant. In English, the word ‘Priyasi’ translates to ‘beloved’. The collection draws inspiration from universal feeling of love, and the pursuit of one’s beloved. It is rooted in the fact that we have, across generations and geographical differences, found our own different expressions of love, through mediums like art, history, and cinema.
The show featured one of the most beautiful sets seen throughout the season. The set had three massive installations of bunches of tulip flowers, each bunch referencing an emotional state of love: longing, union, and remembrance.
The show opened with a bunch of dresses that felt unmistakably Aisha Rao—fun, intricate, and colourful. These included silhouettes like off-shoulder A-line gowns, off-shoulder corseted column gowns, and column gowns with centre slits. Some of these gowns had corsets with basque waistlines, which transcended into skirts covered in strings of beads. We also saw fishtail gowns that had little tassels hanging from the knee-down. These tassels were a recurring element throughout the collection. They were seen on gowns, midi dresses, concept saris, and even on the blouses of lehengas.
The dresses were followed by a set of lehengas and saris that were exquisite, with a touch of quirky. Much like all of Aisha Rao’s collections, colour-galore was the main character this time round as well. We saw looks that had a mish-mash of colours all over it, and we also saw other monotone looks in different colours like sky blue, red, orange, blush pink, and deep aubergine purple. The menswear looks were also an extension of this colour galore theme.
The styling of the show was very interesting, with cool updos with bows and cute bags, from fun tulip-shaped bags to little batua bags. A set of three looks had the hair of the models braided together.