Karl Lagerfield targets India with a twist!

Zeenews Bureau

Mumbai: Recently when Karl Lagerfield showcased his latest collection at Paris, he declared to the attendees of his show that he has been inspired by India. He made a rather strong remark, "even the poor have dignity there". With Wonderland logic, he explained that this was evidenced by the fact that in India "even poor women own three gold bracelets" as quoted by a foreign daily. He named his collection as ‘Paris-Bombay’ collection. Interestingly it was revealed that he had never actually been to India. "Fantasy is often better than reality," he explained. "It`s much more inspiring not to go to places than to go." Entitled Paris-Bombay, the collection was steeped in an Indian aesthetic: pearl-beaded Nehru-collared jackets were layered over sari-draped dresses and slim leather churidar trousers, while ornate headpieces dipped diamonds between the models` heavily kohled eyes. The use of Bombay rather than Mumbai was deliberate: Lagerfeld`s India is of an era where the glamour is imperial, rather than Bollywood. One of his references was a palace designed by the German architect Eckart Muthesius in the 1930s for the maharaja of Indore, which combined modernist furniture by Corbusier and Eileen Gray with traditional Indian pieces, as reported by a foreign tabloid. Indian designers had mixed reaction to the show. "Indian fashion can finally claim to have arrived on the international scene, especially when fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld pays an ode to desi styles and trends," said an India daily.