South Asian brides get own fashion week
SHOWCASE: Top designers from India get chance to expand into Vancouver market
The South Asian bride looking to say yes to her dream dress now has the Raasleela Bridal Fashion Week to help with her sartorial search.
The new event, April 8-10 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, is the brainchild of Surrey-based designers Parvesh Kumar and Jai Singh, whose label Parvesh Jai has been showcased in events from India to Paris.
“It’s a big three-day socializing event,” said Kumar, who co-owns the shop Raasleela with Singh. “It is not a regular trade show with all hard marketing. There will be trade happening but it will be a lot of fashion and a lot of fun.”
Headlining the event is a roster of 20 internationally recognized South Asian fashion designers and a handful of top jewelry designers, including Bharti Art Jewelers.
“These designers are top names in India and have showcased all around the world,” said Kumar about Mayyur Girotra, Satya Paul, Rohit Vernan, Joy Mitra, Shymal & Bhumika, MadSam TinZin and Royal Fables. “For some of them it is the first time to Vancouver so it is also bringing to them an awareness of the market here.”
According to Kumar and Singh, Metro Vancouver is emerging as a major player in South Asian fashion.
“Vancouver is up and coming as one of the biggest destination markets for South Asian wedding fashion,” said Singh, in business with Kumar for 15 years. “We have seen a lot of families shopping here for a wedding. People are coming from all over North America.”
The event will showcase everything needed to hold a wedding, but fashion is the biggest star of this show.
The “in” look for today’s western South Asian bride is one that reflects her modern lifestyle.
“We cater to South Asians in North America,” said Singh. “So basically they have been dressing up in western attire all their lives, then for the wedding day they all of a sudden decide, ‘OK, I have to be dressed in a South Asian garment,’ ” said Singh. “So as designers we have to be able to fuse the whole South Asian design into western sensibility.”
That melding shows up in the silhouette and the on-trend muted colours (white, beige, camel and soft pink) of many Parvesh Jai designs.
“The silhouettes are very straight, very neat, not too many bold cuts,” said Singh, who adds that velvets and heavy silks are on trend this season. “They want a modern cut, something more international but yet still Indian in appearance.”
That “Indian in appearance” translates into zardosi and babka hand stitching.
“A unique form of art,” said Singh about the needlework. “This makes every wedding gown unique. It will not be repeated for other brides.”
A bespoke gown will run anywhere from $2,000 to $15,000 or higher.
After the outfit is chosen, the most important thing is the jewelry.
“From head to toe, an Indian bride is wearing jewelry,” said Kumar. From the tikka (head dress) to the toes, the bling this season is Mughal-inspired, heavily embellished jewelry.
“That is really, really on trend because they used to use a lot of stones, gems with gold,” said Kumar about the influence. “That look is a big trend because people don’t want to go with just plain gold. It’s all about embellished jewelry. They want pop in jewelry these days.”
Singh offers some advice: Scour websites and magazines. Picture your dress before you start shopping.
“The wedding process can be very stressful so it’s good to know what you like,” said Singh.