Marrying trend and tradition with a dash of Bollywood

Ramadan's fashion statement is all about injecting traditional flair to your trendy look in tune with fashion. Since Eid is all about dressing up, it’s time to review your wardrobe staples, and look out for what’s in the stores.

This season the focus is on comfort, fashion, and a bit of Bollywood for women and the favourite colour band is pastels. And what we found is that whether you favour seasonal stripes, florals, or metallics, you don’t have to compromise style to dress modestly – there’s is something for everyone. For men, however it is all about festive kurtas and sherwanis.

“There is something fashionable and trending every year during Ramadan. I mostly prefer latest trends. I bought two suits with palazzo pants for myself and one Bajirao Mastani styled flared Anarkali suit (made popular by Deepika) for my daughter. These two styles are trending big time in Hyderabad this year.

Everyone is buying them. I too wanted to go with flared Anarkali, Deepika Padukone style – but I already tried it for my sister’s wedding, and so got for myself the long kurta and palazzo with zardosi which gives a unique style and traditional look,” says Kahekashan, home maker from Bowenpally.

Sara, from Chandrayangutta, however likes to go simple. She says, “I always want to buy what is comfortable for me. I follow fashion, but when it comes to me, I give priority to comfort over latest trends. This time I bought churidar and long kurti.”

While the popular stores of women’s wear stock the most popular trends, the designer stores play up their strengths but with a heavy dose of tradition as the occasion demands.

A sales man from a store Saheli, Tolichowki says, “The latest trends of Bollywood are more in demand in the city this Ramadan. We have the Bajirao Mastani suit, churidar and long kurti and Palazzo suits which start at around Rs 2000 and attire for men is cheaper than women.”

Anu Pellakuru owner of Talasha store, Jubilee Hills, Road no 10 says, “We do have a variety of men and women's wear only for Ramadan. As Talasha is a multi-designer store we have designers like Manoviraj, Varoin Marwah and Yashvardhan doing their festive kurtas and sherwanis for men and Indo-western outfits.”

“When it comes to women we have Sana khan’s lehengas, lachas, lehenga cholis that I designed, Anisha Vuppala's anarkalis , Suruchi parakh's special anarkali collection along with Mansi Vuppala and Sonali Shrivatsav's Indian outfits .

A special Ramadan jewellery collection with semi precious stones and antique pieces was launched recently. Kiara has done her sathladas for Ramadan with the range between 5000/- and 50,000/-. The festive colour of Talasha is maroons and greens - the rich and royal tones,” adds Anu.

Tapping into the general euphoric spirit of Ramadan, Hyderabad -based designer label Sailesh Singhania, Banjara Hills, Road no 1 has launched a special fashion collection for Eid. “The line is packed with floor-length dresses, sweeping shararas and beautiful embroidered fabrics for ghararas and abayas in a sombre colour palette of pista greens, gulabi pink and turquoise shades!”

Sailesh says, “This capsule collection is now exclusively available at the store 1st July onwards. It may seem to be focused on Muslim women, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t suitable for every woman. These clothes are made to suit many a festive occasion, and are just as elegant and fancy as those of other collections. The range starts from Rs.3000 onwards.”

Angasutra is the epitome of a high-fashion boutique, located at Banjara Hills, Road no 10. Owner Kamini Saraf says, “For Ramadan we have collections from designers that are selling well like Heena Kochhar, Loka, Riddhima, Vasavi Shah, Anupraas (Nishant & Rahul), Purvi Doshi. They designed all traditional dresses like lacha, lehenga, palazzo etc. The price range is between Rs 12000-Rs 25000.”

“There is never a dearth of colour choices at our store. Designers have sent extensive collections. But pastel colours have done wonderfully well this season. And cream is also doing great. We have innumerable varieties ranging from simple and festive kurtas to anarkalis that are selling very quickly,” shares Kamini.

By:Askari Jaffer