Lakme India Fashion Week 2003 :: Rohit Gandhi & Rahul Khanna

ROHIT GANDHI
After graduating and working with a New York based fashion house for five years, he launched H2O a brand of mens' shirts and ties for the domestic market. After the success of H2O, he teamed up with designer Rahul Khanna and launched 'CUE'.

RAHUL KHANNA
After completing a course in Apparel Merchandising at NIFT, he worked as a freelance designer and stylist for various leading export and fashion houses in New Delhi and Mumbai, in 1998 joined designer Rohit Gandhi and launched 'CUE'.

Their collections are based on Straight Line clothing, retaining the very basic elements of style & quality, and keeping in mind the increasing demand for western wear in India, which has been ignored in the past.

They keep their silhouettes sharp and defined with an emphasis on fabrics, cuts and a lot of detailing rather than on embellishments. The look this year is understated chic.

The look this season for men is very comfortable. The suits are unstructured with concealed plackets and stylised collars. The fabrics used are very body friendly and wrinkle free. The fabrics have been chosen very carefully keeping body comfort…and the rapidly changing Indian seasons in mind, which means a lot of High Twisted Yarns, Blended linen Crepes, Light weight stretch performance fabrics and Ash Sprayed Knits.

The colour palette is neutral with subtle dashes of pastel colours such as aqua, orange, lilac and mint green. Polka dots play an important role in the collection. At Cue, they celebrate style and this is reflected in their clothes.

LIFW 2003 - CUE

Sharp is the word that comes to mind to describe this collection displayed in the Lakme India Fashion Week (LIFW) 2003. Rohit and Rahul's tailoring was crisp throughout - the prints, the laser cut leather, the pleating and stitching and the clean lines gave us a collection that was sleek, almost stark in places.

There were several separate modules within the collection allowing the designers plenty of creative scope, but not at the cost of a strong sense of cohesion.

The silhouettes were slim, sleek and uncluttered. Trousers were flared and low slung, with one very refreshing exception. After so many seasons it was a pleasant surprise to see a pair of very high waisted black pants in the Lakme India Fashion Week (LIFW) 2003. Hemlines rose and fell at whim; the skirt shapes were pleated, flipped and, of course, asymmetrical.

Even though we saw a military theme yet again, the surface treatment on the fabrics and the use of a Japanese-based cartoon character along with the clean lines created an air of difference.

Rohit and Rahul's colour sensibility showed just what Indian designers are famous for. Although muted, it was remarkable. The military look was in darks highlighted with strong red, then muted greens and blues. It was here that the honeycomb leitmotif appeared and continued throughout the collection. The black and white range featured 60s op art prints which sat well with the clean cuts.

One of the most interesting modules was the faux leather. The fabric was appliquéd, cut piped with pleasing precision, the cut were superb.

This was an extremely wearable, commercial collection.

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