These fashionable bibs are not for messy eaters

During the recently concluded Lakmé Fashion Week in partnership with FDCI held in Delhi, designer Amit Aggarwal sent out his models on the catwalk in an array of playful bibs: they came in electric blue, orange and green, dressy silver and black, woven or knotted, edged with floor-length fringe or covered in pom-poms. There was even a rectangular bag, complete with a bib and a collar, and a shirt that was printed with the image of a bib in a trompe l’oeil effect. While you could wear an AM.IT bib when confronting a crab curry dinner, these overlays were more suited for fashionable purposes than all-you-can-eat seafood buffets.

An accompanying note by Aggarwal declared that the collection “approaches the everyday through a lens of fantasy, curiosity and intrigue, transforming the mundane into something fantastical”. The bib, which in its more utilitarian form is designed to save your better clothes from rogue tomato sauce, is an apt example of the quotidian made more delightful. It’s a design that Aggarwal has been returning to over and over again, eventually making it a key product in his prêt line, AM.IT, which he launched earlier this year.

“We started making it with scraps of textiles that were left over from production, then pre-owned Benarasi textiles and even engineered polymer,” said Aggarwal. This season there were bibs made of woven recycled polypropylene, a material more commonly used for chatais, or floor mats, which eventually became the starting point for his entire show.

Bibs themselves have long been a garment that pivoted between vanity and utility. From the 17th century onwards, men would often wear some version of a starched, pleated, ruffled or even lace bib on top of their undershirts. Shirts around this time were treated as undergarments, worn everyday, perhaps a little grungy, since laundry wasn’t exactly easy. The bib, however, was the visible element, peeking out from under a coat or dinner jacket and, therefore, the only thing that had to be cleaned and kept pristine.

Today, though, bibs are more practically used by children (and the occasional adult bingeing on a lobster dinner) and come in materials like silicon and cotton. Designer Ankur Verma of the label Til, who’s been including bibs in his collections ever since his first runway show in 2022, knows this all too well. “The funniest thing is that we associate [bibs] with childhood, with messy eating. I have a daughter, so I know how it is. Now here I am making grownups wear them as fashion statements—I love that contrast.”

For his show at Lakmé Fashion Week, Verma pushed his experiments with textile, creating textures that look like moss, playing with leftover katran, piling on different techniques to create expressive pieces, including bibs that he said his clients describe as “wearable pieces of art”.

The utility of a bib doesn’t end at catching bits of sauce; a more fashionable one can be an extremely useful styling tool. At the Shahin Mannan show this season, an embroidered bib decorated with beetle motifs was layered over a white shirt dress; the label ORCR added a long threadwork bib over a flowing maxi; while Gen Next label Subbah offered a sheer bib worn as a sari blouse.

Some designers were a bit more experimental with the form itself—Prama by Pratima Paandey showcased sheer dresses over which she attached a bib-like woven front, and Aikeyah had a short, detachable cape-style bib.

Aggarwal even had something for the festive season. What he called, “the most elemental bib of the whole collection, the upcycled plastic flower genda phool bib” referenced traditional flower garlands, which the designer said could be worn “on your denim, your most elaborate silk kurtas, over a white shirt”. He added, “It’s the perfect addition to your wardrobe for Diwali or even a wedding festivity.”

No one’s going to be offering these bibs to their kids at mealtime, but perhaps it’s significant that both Verma and Aggarwal sent kids down the ramp—Verma took his bow with his daughter and nephew, while Aggarwal’s nephews were hand in hand with his partner Ankit Chawla. All the kids were, of course, wearing their own mini bibs. What the bib reminds us is that a little mess is okay—welcome, even.