Archana Rao (centre) with fashions showcasing her creations at Lakme Fashion Week 2024
| Photo Credit: FDCI x Lakme Fashion Week
At designer Archana Rao’s studio in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, a marigold yellow robe with floral floor particulars and a voluminous path attracts consideration. This satin-organza robe is from her Frou Frou Bride assortment. In distinction to this are a few black and white separates, with silhouettes impressed by energy dressing, from her Sun and Moon assortment showcased at Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) Spring-Summer, in collaboration with Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI). A number of toes away is a showcase of frocks for younger women. The show offers guests an thought of the style label’s numerous assortment.
The Sun and Moon assortment marked her return to LFW after three years. The absence was resulting from her studio commitments in addition to designing costumes for director Nag Ashwin’s science fiction Telugu movie, Kalki 2898 AD. “This year I was determined to showcase at LFW; the concept was ready ahead of time and we pulled it off in between all our commitments,” says Archana.
Make approach for black
Models sport Archana Rao’s Sun and Moon assortment
| Photo Credit:
FDCI X Lakme Fashion Week
As all the time, Archana opened her showcase at LFW with a white ensemble earlier than shifting on to pastels and lastly, blacks. Though Archana has a fondness in direction of sporting black, that is the primary time she designed ensembles in black for the style week.
Her collections are season impartial in phrases of the use of materials and the color palette. Blacks, which was once related with cooler months, are not frowned upon by the style fraternity and designers experiment with lighter materials. Archana designed the black ensembles utilizing light-weight leather-based and silks to make them breathable. The padded shoulders give a structured silhouette and intensify the facility dressing quotient.
Archana’s signature type of floral gildings differ in type aligning with the solar and moon inspirations. She additionally makes use of giant pearls for some of the collars. “Using a hint of bling in structured silhouettes helped to tone them down,” she explains.
Designing for cinema
Some of the movies Archana has designed for: Costumes for Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Dulquer Salmaan and Vijay Deverakonda in Mahanati; a few saris for Mrunal Thakur in Sita Ramam; for Shruti Haasan within the brief movie directed by Nag Ashwin within the anthology Pitta Kathalu.
Forthcoming movies: Kalki 2898 AD (director Nag Ashwin’s movie starring Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Haasan), Lucky Bhaskar (headlined by Dulquer Salmaan)
All the flowers
Her fascination for flowers goes again to childhood when she used to choose fallen flowers from her aunt’s backyard. “I would use the flowers for colouring and the pigments would give different textures. I would also have flowers placed between books. Pressed flowers and 3D floral surface details became my signature style when I began designing.”
Archana debuted at LFW within the Gen Next class in 2012 and bought observed for her female ensembles in modern Indo-western silhouettes, primarily catering to a younger clientele. She progressively prolonged her focus to saris (in collaboration with Ekaya and ultimately by means of her personal label), bridal put on and youngsters’ put on. “With age and maturity, I began designing for women of all age groups,” she provides. Some of her saris cater to youthful ladies who are usually not recurring sari wearers. Think pre-draped saris and zippered saris.
Making it official
Sun and Moon showcase additionally included a few ensembles for males. This formally marked her first menswear assortment at the style week, although she has been designing for males for years. “I began my career at a menswear company when I returned to India (Archana is an alumni of Parsons School of Design, New York). We do a lot of custom-design menswear at the studio but I have never shot a lookbook or showcased this aspect of my work at fashion week.” It started when feminine purchasers learnt that she additionally designs for males and needed one thing for his or her spouses.
She explains how she integrated some of the learnings from designing menswear into her collections for girls as effectively. “In menswear, the detailing is mostly subtle. You may not even notice a French cuff, for example. Menswear also has flawless finish, which I incorporated into womenswear.”
As for the ladies, although Archana is thought for her pastel pinks, off whites, mauves and mint greens, she discovered ladies requesting her to copy the designs and silhouettes in wine reds, midnight blues or mustard yellows for weddings. “Unless there is a European-themed wedding or a destination wedding, Hyderabad clientele prefers deeper colours. Sometimes, the choice comes from the need to match their jewellery.”
Hence the Frou Frou Bride assortment that has crop tops with giant bows mixed with flowy pants, a leotard-like fitted double web sheer prime with a lengthy skirt, or pre-draped saris, all in colors starting from ivory whites and pale pinks to teal blue-greens and hibiscus reds.