After grand opening, stage set for 2nd round

The first lap of the Deccan Herald Metrolife Fashion Show season 8 was held on August 25 at NMKRV College for Women.

Coming up on Saturday is the North Zone preliminary round at CMR Law College, OMBR Layout.

The extravaganza last Saturday saw participants showcasing their creativity with stunning designs and professional style. A total of 24 colleges took part, out of which five were selected.

They will meet the winners of the North in the finals, which will be held on September 8 at Dayananda Sagar Institutions in Kumaraswamy Layout.

The colleges participating in the second prelims are hard at work, making full use of the last few days before the event.

Metrolife spoke to some of the participants to know what they are up to.

Students of Sindhi College started practising for the show sometime back. Akash Anand Khandari, cultural secretary, says, “Our theme is ethnic but we have something different planned. We are not wearing the usual wedding-style outfits. We are designing everything on our own.”

The team has taken inspiration from celebrity designers Manish Malhotra and Devika Arora.

Bhagya Nadig, assistant professor at Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology, is proud of her students’ collection.

“Our theme fuses urban elements into outfits of ‘banjarans’. Some of our students had visited tribal places earlier this year and they are showcasing on stage what they learned,” she says.

“The team of students is divided into production, stitching and accessories. Even the standalone accessories that the models will be wearing are made by the students,” Bhagya says.

The college has participated before and they want to up their game this year. “We showed the dark side of youth last year. We want to turn that around and spread happiness this time. So you will see plenty of vibrant colours on stage,” she adds.

The students of CMR Institute of Technology began preparing for the show almost a week ago. Aishwarya Bharuah, one of the models, says, “We are done with the choreography; now we are just waiting to come on stage and do our best. One of the designers from Bangalore Fashion Week is helping us with the outfits and theme.”

The team has chosen ‘Scarlet and the Guards’ as their theme.

“Outfits are mostly in red and black. The theme will say that even though boys have had an upper hand till now, girls will rule at the end of the day,” adds Aishwarya.

The students will be using props and other surprise elements. “We have always focused on how we walk; now we feel that is not enough. We are trying new things and we can’t wait for Saturday to present them on stage, “ she says.

Talking about their experience from the last few years, Musa Shahed Sait from St Joseph’s College of Commerce says, “There’s always a lot of work that goes into our preparation for this fashion show. This year too, we are doing our best to be the best. From designing to the choreography, everything will have our unique signature.”

Something new

For the first time Deccan Herald Metrolife Fashion Show will see participants who are not from Bengaluru. Two teams from Mysuru will be walking the ramp this Saturday.

We spoke to Gaurav Ganapathy from Vidhyaashram First Grade College, who is excited to compete with the city teams. He says, “Our theme is Hollywood meets Bombay Velvet. We are confident about making it to the top five and participating in the finals. We have been following the Metrolife Fashion Show for a few years now but it’s the first time that we will be performing.”