If you visit Rajesh Pratap Singh’s website, a black-and-white image will arrest your attention. A pair of black boots made dramatic-cool with stacks of anklets and goth rings. You will stay with this pictorial representation of mind-boggling aesthetics as it will linger on in your mind, like a hauntingly beautiful melody. The conviction to play around “with traditional techniques while incorporating a modern language” has stayed with him for 25 years and when you see his brilliant Lakmé Absolute Grand Finale collection, you want to get inside his mind and map it to see how he has saved it from getting rusty. What’s inside it that is creating this relevant magic? Even after 25 years, what keeps him going, setting standards for other designers to wake up and smell the coffee. Get out of the rut and stick to your guns. Pratap speaks less but one can gauge he is designing for joy, with joy and with no considerations of a safety net.
His magical show at Pavilion 1 of Jio World Centre, in Mumbai, has upturned all that you consider beautiful and pretty, the conventional prison of societal standards. With a live musical performance playing out from within the womb of an installation, Pratap’s men and women are powerful. Their beauty dazzles you and the rhythm in their steps reverberate in the otherwise starkly bare giant show area and make your eyes well up. You almost can’t believe what is unfolding in front of you. Indescribable. That unstoppable rush of emotions that makes you want to live your life exactly like you desire.
Pratap’s jumpsuits, his lehnga, the stunning metallic dresses, the Pratap LBD, the almost aliens-esque hair, the eyes, the chunky footwear, the hint of red, his men in slouchy pants that hung low, baring their midriff... it is a poetry of a finale. In fact, he has dressed one of his male and female models, in almost identical separates.
Way before the show unfolds, we meet Pratap at the venue that is hosting Lakme Fashion Week in partnership with FDCI. He has just landed and is about to get into show mode. In his whites, it’s a deja vu for us, a throwback to our last meeting in Kolkata. He is visibly tired, but smiles and sits down for a quick chat. We compliment him and he says: ‘Kya bolte ho aap?’
Some things never change. Like Pratap’s fierce fashion. Like his belief that honesty is the real grand. His finale showcase is a testament at being able to tap into his honest self, the core, even after 25 years of starting his journey. #inspiring
Pictures: Sandip Das
Rajesh Pratap Singh with Mrunal Thakur who opened the show for him
It is a tribute to Mrs Tata, the story of Lakme, that bit of construction from the 1950s and what it means today. There are one or two tailors and dressmakers from the 1950s whose work I really like. They used to make good clothes. I have taken some elements from that. I have taken the idea of modernity and what the counterculture today is and put them together. I am grateful that Lakme thinks I am worth representing them, but I don’t take extraordinary pressures of ‘oh it’s a grand finale’.... I think what is important is what we are trying to do... celebrate 70 years of the brand... celebrate a moment and the person called Simone Tata and that point of history in our country. I love the story of how Lakme was born.... I guess it’s an honour that they still think that I am relevant. I think honesty is grand — Rajesh Pratap Singh