Shweta Gupta’s proposed silence was a good place to start the Day 1 roster of designer shows at Lakme Fashion Week in partnership with Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) in Mumbai on Wednesday. But it was a silence already loud with a huge range of emotions and urges that looked beyond lust to convey Gupta’s enduring love with days spent waking up at Almora; the cantonment town in Uttarakhand where she met her husband-business partner, Abhishek. 

The minimal Atelier space at the Jio World Convention Centre offered a welcome pause from mandatory Insta-perfected fashion looks that have to shout to be heard. The audience could still draw a breath while watching the 23 looks unravel. “Love is a big part of my life,” Gupta says. “But in my show, I was describing a love story of a day in the mountains. From the first streaks of sunlight with five-petal wildflowers bobbing their heads to crispy afternoons melting into evening glow and the romance the night calls with cicadas singing, I wanted to capture the situationship of a day in garments,” explains Gupta, the creative mind behind the brand, SWGT. But why call it, A Periwinkle Wednesday? “It just happened… what do we talk about when we talk about love on a Wednesday?” she laughs.