A riot of colours, textures and chic silhouettes - The Grand Finale of the Lakme India Fashion Week was a show of fluorescent creativity, says Sathya Saran

IT must be the best we have seen yet... the Lakme India Fashion Week Grand Finale put out three collections that most ingénues would give a right arm to be able to hang in their wardrobes.

Chic, exciting and just that bit of a tantaliser is how one can best describe the lines, designers Anshu Arora Sen, Aki Narula and Anamika Khanna produced. Each collection followed the other with styles that seemed to have a common thread and yet all three were clearly identifiable as signature lines.

The theme of course was Lakme inspired... colour bursts inspired by fruit shock, and colour there was in plenty. Anshu and Anamika have established themselves as designers with a distinct colour pallete of their own, Aki however, moved away from his textured whites and solid fluorescents to blaze across the ramp in a new avatar.

But let's take a closer look at what each had to offer:

Anshu Arora Sen
The look: As always, a reflection of the designer's persona... nature's child, floating through life with the innocence of a wood nymph...

There was, of course, a lot of pink, many fluorescents... green and orange; there were black slip-ons, but the black was only to show off the pink hearts to advantage. Every outfit had a touch of the gamine about it, you could practically hear the high giggle...

Anshu used dried fruit as a block, and kept her fabrics and colours in tune. The 3 D plastic weaves and neon rubber bands that lit up her bubble gum line were cheap adaptables that added shock value.

What we liked: The easy-to-wear silhouettes, the layering of silk and nylon, the light prints and the bright green, pink, tights worn with contrasting body wear.

Aki Narula
The look: A little bit of Aki and a lot of colour. After a low at last year's show, Aki has bounced back to his ebullient, devil-may-care creative best. His signature textures were very evident, and there was a lot of appliqué - on shirts, tops and on dresses.

What we liked: We particularly liked a black and green batik work and appliquéd dress, and an orange appliquéd skirt with a cutaway top. Aki plundered the craft of India to showcase very wearable piece that sported a bit of kalamkari, khari print and batik. And not to forget the woven 'gamchas', which seem to have become part of the prêt scene and are very much at home on models as they are on the shoulders of the 'aam junta'. Fruit pulp stains on handloom fabric created a riot of colours and added visual depth.

Pompoms on the women's leggings, and lime green and white combos on men who also sported gold discs on their feet, completed the element of whimsy in his look.

Anamika Khanna
The look: If she intrigued us last year with her surprise package of layered prints in mix and match textures, Anamika's line this year was all about fixing that look as her personal style statement. Layering was very evident, and so was quilting, crushed fabric, and a variety of Indian crafts.

Kurtas were worn on tees, and wraparounds over leggings... 'phulkari' was as much an effect as an applied craft. Fabric stretched and embroidered and stitched on the reverse, strips put together seemingly haphazardly... were elements of the collection. Anamika used the purple of Burst as a base and derived all her other colours from it... through dyeing, bleaching, or overdyeing and using the energy that Burst suggested to work the collection's mood.

What we liked: There was also a nonchalance in the display of the line, a take it or leave it attitude. Chances are we will take it.