At Tarun Tahiliani, Come For The Lehengas, But Stay For The Blouses

On Friday evening, veteran designer Tarun Tahiliani, whose eponymous label completed 25 years in the fashion business, opened the 15th edition of the India Couture Week with his collection, Painterly Dream. The first look was a lehenga that bore the semblance of a white wedding gown. The skirt featured a thick waistband that tightly hugged the model’s hips and then extended into a voluminous ombré skirt, graduating from a rich ivory on top into a subdued shade of champagne pink toward the bottom, featuring the most exquisite three-dimensional floral appliqués embellished with pearls and dusted with sequin discs. Despite the grandiosity at display here, it’s shocking to say that the skirt wasn’t even the most striking part of the entire outfit. That prestige was reserved for the blouse; a mid-length number with a square-ish neckline, a bodice made of floral lace, and sleeves made of delicate diaphanous net, fastened tightly at the wrist with pearl buttons and dotted with smaller pearls. It was this blouse and several others that followed this look which stole the show.

The collection highlighted artworks that were handprinted, layered with washes, and then printed on fabric — a testament to the designer’s ability to mix art with technology. And yet, visually, design innovations were apparent in the designs of blouses that were a sharp departure from the run-of-the-mill designs previously associated with bridal couture.

Although the jumping off point for a lot of these blouses was the corset, the designer gave each of them his signature treatment and personal design touches by making meaningful modifications – like adding net shoulder to a bodice blouse that’s paired with a lehenga flaunting a mermaid fit.

The same inconspicuously modest twist was added to the bustier green blouse where, in fact, the net was embroidered to mimic dainty precious jewels.

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In another design, the corset was designed with a peplum bottom, and the dupatta was supplanted with cape-like attachments starting from each of the shoulders.

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A golden risqué blouse inundated with pearls, too, featured the pre-attached dupatta.

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When the corset took a backseat, the halter neck dominated. A champagne pink bralette-inspired blouse with beads dangling on the under bust boasted a halter.

But our favourite number was the twisted halter neck wrap blouse that joins in the back as a single strap leaving very little to the imagination and reserved for the bravest of even the most contemporary brides.