Namah Bose
Manish Malhotra has always created headlines, and this time too he has given nothing short of a breathtaking show at the FDCI Lakmé Fashion week 2021.
NFT’s have been taking over the fashion world. NFT’s stand for Non-fungible Fashion tokens. RTFKT, a virtual fashion brand has sold a digital jacket for over $125,000. The world of fashion NFT’s is still fairly new and is being tried out by various brands – like Gucci. Gucci’s first NFT was priced at 20,000 dollars. [1]
India is not one to stay behind and it is designer Manish Malhotra who brought NFT’s to the Lakme Fashion week. Manish Malhotra has yet again proved to be one of the Mavericks of the fashion industry because of the novelty in his collections. He has introduced one of the first fashion NFT’s in India. For this marvellous feat, he had partnered with WazirX NFT Marketplace and FDCI x Lakme Fashion Week and created 5 exclusive fashion NFTs.
Manish Malhotra stated that he was inspired and intrigued by this form of digital creation and that’s what led him to create the Fashion NFT’s. While he was choosing what to create for this new form of digital art he browsed through pictures, videos and sketches of his old collections which have created the brand into what it is today.
Manish Malhotra believes that it heralds a new beginning and platform for new age artists, designers, illustrators, and digital content creators. The fashion NFT’s created by Malhotra included a sketch titled ‘memorable sketch’ featuring a sari from the movie Yeh Jawaani Hain Deewani.
Manish Malhotra was the designer for the famous movie and was responsible for all the looks in the film which all garnered a lot of public attention. But one of the most memorable was the sari worn by Deepika Padukone during the song Badtameez dil. The NFT has the hand-drawn sketch from 2013 of that very iconic look. It sold for 2200 WRX which equalled to 2677.4 USD.
The next piece was a custom-made sketch of the Lehenga created for megastar Kareena Kapoor Khan for the red carpet of HT’s Most Stylish Awards, 2019. The NFT is called illuminous showstopper and true to its name, the gif lights up beautifully. This particular gif sold out for a whopping 3000 WRX (3,603 USD)
The next Archival diaries which have the model Lisa rays gorgeous still from a Manish Malhotra vintage photo shoot in 1998. The stunning black and white photograph was sold for 1600 WRX (1,952 USD)
Reminiscing runways is a 38 second clip which shows Manish Malhotra wall down the ramp escorted by models wearing his collection for the 8th Caring with style annual fashion show. The show raised funds cancer patients in support of The Cancer Patients Aid Association at Cricket Club of India (CCI), Mumbai 2013.
The last but not the least showcases a part of India heritage – Indian textile heritage. Chikankari has been one of the oldest forms of art in India, an embroidery introduced by Nur Jahan. The particular sketch known as illustrious sketch was of a creation which has been adorned by Alia Bhatt in 2018. Its an ode to Indian craftsmanship and that’s what makes it one of the most beautiful NFT in the entire collection.
IMAGE SOURCE – Twitter/@WazirXNFT
The entire collection has brought the Indian fashion scene up to date the world of technological development. As for the physical fashion collection – its filled with stunning pieces with abundant use of glitter. The show was considered a phygital (a play on the combination of physical and digital keeping in mind COVID) show with showstoppers Kiara Advani and Kartik Aryan. The collections comprised of everything from kalidars, lehengas, jackets, gowns to blouses, kurtas, and shararas. The presence of Indian handiwork was a constant here too with intricate embroidery, color blocking techniques, and the indigenous Indian craftsmanship of zardosi work.[2] The collection was truly spectacular.
AMITABH BACHCHAN NFT COLLECTION
The craze of NFT’s has also touched Bollywood, now that the legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan becomes the first Bollywood actor to launch his own NFT’s with BeyondLife.Club.
Some of the NFT collections include – the star’s recital of poems from Madhushala renowned collection of poems by his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Anecdotes from his own career. Personally signed posters highlighting some of the biggest achievements and milestones in the star’s life. And rare digital collectibles from the past and present marked under undisclosed gifts.The other Bollywood stars entering the world of NFT’s are sunny leone who is to launch her own website for NFT’s. Diginoor which deals with NFT’s for movie collectables has announced NFT collectibles from Rajnikanth starrer Sivaji the Boss.
[1] Angelica Villa, Gucci Sells NFT Inspired by Latest Collection at Christie’s, ART NEWS, (June 2, 2021 5:32pm) https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/gucci-nft-auction-christies-1234594632/
[2] Team, Manish Malhotra’s Latest Collection At The FDCI X Lakme Fashion Week 2021, I KNOCK FASHION, (MARCH 26 2021 https://www.iknockfashion.com/manish-malhotras-latest-collection-at-the-fdci-x-lakme-fashion-week-2021
