After the cinched waist the next big thing to sweep runways across Europe is the play on the shoulders, maybe it has got to do with retro revival. Shoulders are definitely the next big thing, whether it is in the form of embellished numbers, getting big and bold or just adding tassels to rev up an ensemble. “Big shoulders look good on petite bodies as they highlight their frames, specially in the early 60s and 70s they were done in great style by women,” says designer Kapil.
While style guru Mandira Wirk adds that like the eyes, playing around with the shoulders can define the attitude and personality of a person. Whether a woman looks dainty, elegant, flirty or confident depends a lot on the treatment of the shoulder of the garment. “Detailing on the shoulders is often used to accentuate a woman’s neck and collar bones. One can look elegant in a one shoulder embroidered gown on one hand and look super confident with more structured shoulder patterns on the other,” she says.
Shoulders are the focus of all fashionistas and it is one of the biggest trends because of the style prominence, which is indisputable. French Connection’s spring-summer collection comes with an exciting range of dresses and tops with exaggerated shoulders. Be it ruffles or one shoulder ruffled tops or sequin embellishments or puffed up shoulder lines it is all there. “Shoulders are the easiest section of a garment that can be modified and easily flaunted in many different ways without going over-the-top. The embellished shoulder style is everywhere right now. Our Graingers Glitter Dress with sequin shoulder pads is a perfect manifestation of the trend. Shoulder trends offer versatility, functionality and originality all in one tidy package,” says Mansi Zaveri, manager marketing and communications, French Connection.
With the Indian contemporary women taking utmost care of their looks, complexion and physique, the shoulder is the most dominating part of the upper torso that gets the first glimpse of the on-lookers.
“We have added a lot of puckering effect, surface embellishments in the form of crystals and brooch in our present collection,” says Akhil Duggar, creative director, Madame. Shoulders are one of the most important attribute of the human body for the designer to play with. The shoulders bring a lot of things for us to use.
“It is not only the starting point for the outfit but it has three bones, rotator cuff that gives us lot more to play with in terms of silhouettes, cuts and embellishment. Lastly, the off-shoulders make the body proportion much better,” says Gautam Gupta of the label Vinayak.