Located in downtown Calcutta on Strand Road, Polo Floatel Kolkata is the first-ever floating hotel of Calcutta, situated on River Hooghly. More than a decade old, the uniquely designed hotel is still a place of fancy with its al fresco sky deck giving sunset views, the anchorage giving the chance to hop into a boat ride and the street-view and city-view rooms allowing a comfortable stay. It is an ideal rejuvenating staycation spot in the city when time is a constraint and vacation isn’t an option. The Telegraph explores some scenic stops in the property with designer Anupam Chatterjee’s latest swimwear and resortwear launch.
The summer launch from this stylist-designer’s den Warssi Kolkata is all about playing around with colours and fabrics. Skipping the usual fabrics used in swimwear for practicality purposes, the designer styled the collection in vibrant hues of comfy cotton prints to offer a variety to choose from for the perfect Insta-worthy vacation or staycation. With social media platforms booming and people making memory albums on these platforms out of every vacation or staycation, these are ideal styles to sport for the long beach walks or spending a day by the river, designed keeping comfort in mind.
The trio shot against the Howrah bridge on the sky deck of Polo Floatel exudes a happy vibe. The variety of swimsuit styles in the frame, like strappy and one-piece, feature geometric and floral prints. Colourful flats and pumps and printed chiffon and organza jackets enhance the fun vibe of the frame.
Bitasta sports a smart halter-neck look in a geometric-print cotton fabric. The shorts with a tie-up style on the side, the matching bandana and white shades add to the overall look.
“When I started making clothes, I always had in my mind that I would make resort wear and swimwear. It is common for people to wear swimwear and resort wear in synthetic and stretchable fabrics but I wanted to create the line out of more comfortable fabrics. Since I stay in a country where it is very hot throughout the year and I work with handloom, I wanted to make the collection with handwoven cotton, block prints, ikat and kalamkari fabrics to give the usual swimwear a spin. Keeping the vacation mood in mind, the collection has a vibrant vibe, paired with solid colour and printed easy-breezy capes, jackets and sarongs to give a complete and playful look. We have used matching bandanas and hair ties as accessories, skipping any kind of jewellery to keep a fresh vibe to each look,” said Anupam Chatterjee, designer.
“Since the lookbook has a staycation and vacation vibe, we have worked around the looks with minimal make-up and kept the hairstyles casual with curly waves and sleek gel back hair,” said Bhaskar Biswas, make-up pro.
Bitasta and Khusboo don different bikini styles in shades of blue, made of cotton floral-printed fabric. The easy-breezy chiffon capes and top-knot styles glam up the looks.
Khusboo’s cotton ikat-printed bikini,styled with a matching bandana, a pair of shades and tied-up heels, is oh-so pictureperfect a look!
Bitasta sports a floral-printed cotton bright yellow bikini, styled with a complementing brown-and-white satin jacket designed with flowy bishop sleeves. The yellow printed fabric used as a hair tie and matching yellow stilettos complete the look.
Pictures: Pabitra Das
Hair and make-up: Bhaskar Biswas
Location: Polo Floatel Kolkata
Models: Bitasta Sinha Roy, Khusboo Jha and Srijla Guha