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Graeme Black’s Raj and Romp

One local designer who has developed something of chic following is Graeme Black, a Scotsman who took a languid jaunt through India in his Spring 2010 collection, unveiled Sunday, Sept. 20, in London.

Yet Black’s haute Hindu couture was far from a literal view of India. His take on the sub-continent is a clash of western tailoring with India exuberance.

The Raj, the English term for its time in India, was apparent in a beautiful green laser cut jacket paired with white shantung jodhpurs.

His least Indian efforts were his best – like a charmingly delicate chiffon cardigan bestrewn with jangling chains and precious stones that any woman would want in her wardrobe or a great all-white opener of crocodile tuxedo jacket and pencil jodhpurs.

Yet Blacks polo players are ladies whose view of any match is probably limited to Pym’s bar at Royal Windsor, the game’s biggest weekend in the UK, or the lounge of the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane, a favorite meeting spot for the international rich.

Staged before large beige and black drawings of the 16th century Mughal capital Fatehpur Sikri, the models strolled out in the show-space on Savile Row to the sounds of sitars and chipping kites on the soundtrack.

“I bought a Maharajah’s turban from a dealer and it took off from there - the extravagance of Indian, the strictness of British colonialists,” explained Black, a former design chief at Giorgio Armani, who has carved out a distinctive new oeuvre since departing Milan for London.

Black also slickly used a series of snazzy and elegant necklaces by jeweler Moussaieff, in particular some thoroughly beautiful and faintly jangling Rajasthan emeralds.

It was, however, hard to be fully convinced by some of the rather loud striped silks, and pairing dresses with cable wool mini jackets really did not work.

Yet, Black has mastered a sense of grand fashion that manages not to be stuffy. No wonder he has such a loyal following.

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