With issues playing a vital role through motifs, the recently concluded Wills India Fashion Week was a silhouette of the marginalized people. suchayan mandal pushes through the glitter and glamour of the ramp
When an untimely rain last Friday evening drenched the city, one of the designers at the Wills India Fashion Week Autumn Winter '14 was heard discussing how this rain in early summer was harmful. Farmers growing mustard suffer a lot as the hailstorm destroys the buds and wheat harvest gets delayed. And what this rain, accompanied by hail, contributes to the fashion industry, is a hike in the price of textiles. Cotton bolls get destroyed due to torrential rain. Silk cotton is another crop hit by the rain. Farmers are unable to harvest the crop as the rain causes delay in the bursting of dry pods. Growers believe this delay owing to dampness will affect processing. With farmer-designer-buyer forming a candid nexus, Wills India Fashion Week AW '14 that ended last Sunday at Pragati Maidan provided a platform for the designers to support this cause. Right from standing against crony capitalism to empowering the women and giving power to the tribals in Orissa, the mega fashion trade event ahead of the elections could have been a well-knit manifesto.
Her power
Kolkata-based designer, Paromita Banerjee's latest collection Tana Bana was a tale of hand made clothing woven by women. While hand made might seem clichéd, the edge on the collection was contributed by shades of midnight blue, bright olives and all natural hues of rust, cherry and maroon. The fabric used by Paromita in her collection was hand-woven by women weavers from the charitable trust Women Weave from Madhya Pradesh. This trust has been sustaining employment of women in handloom weaving. Banerjee said, "We are probably the only brand that is consistently working on handlooms. While many have made a shift to handloom only recently we are doing this from the beginning."
Regarding the women weavers, Banerjee has been using fabrics from Women Weave for a couple of years now. Two different woven fabrics have been joined together in the weaving stage to create the textured surfaces that tends to have a denim sort of texture. Woven by Narmada Ben and Shahnaaz Ben from Madhya Pradesh, Tana Bana not only set the trend of autumn-winter but also how fashion can go miles in empowering.
Using mulberry silk, hand spun cotton and Azo-free vat dyes, Banerjee's range uses two-coloured ply and twisted thread to add texture to the woven surface. Each colour is woven into 7-8 inch blocks making checkered fabric blankets, creating a wonderful colour interaction. Anisha Ben, Anju Ben were the weavers in this range. Setting the ramp ablaze with kurtas, jama, short capes, draped silhouettes and men's style kurtas along with checkered palazzo pants,
the collection is apt for evening.
Going wild
Designer duo David Abraham and Rakesh Thakore selected wild silk from northeast India for the collection. "Our collection is inspired by empowered women and wild silk of northeast," Abraham said after the show. Muga, Tussar and Eri are fabrics woven from wild silk, which was used to create the line. The collection with a palette based on the golden hues of wild silk, evoked various shades of khaki. Tussar with animal print took the front seat. There was less skin show and winter outfits like trench coat over a sari, military inspired blouson jacket with kurta and even shawl and scarves were displayed.
Against crony capitalism
Christened V, Gaurav Jai Gupta collection was a visual fight for the rights of the Dongria Kondh tribe of South West Orissa, which has resisted the corporate takeover of Niyamgiri Hills for bauxite mining by Vedanta Resources. Hand-woven with natural yarns, the collection consists of separates and draped pieces referring to industrial work wear and the local's way of dressing. Outwears in wools along with Pashmina-like cottons in earthly browns creates conflict with warm pop colours like purples and bright yellows. Coal blue has been used to make the base of the warp, referring to mining. Kondhs used music in local Oriya and Kui tribal languages as an act of protest. V spreads the idea of development at the cost of crony capitalism and celebrates India's first environmental referendum, wherein the judiciary decided in favour of the Kondhs. Engineered hand-woven fabrics have been developed in monofilament silks along with cotton, stainless steel and wool.
"We have made the cotton fibre with wool to make it look like Pashmina and the silk threads were treated to look like organza," said Gaurav. "The collection is for a woman with brains, who gives a damn about fashion, and is comfortable donning her own style. It's all about standing up for your rights and fighting for it."
Off the ramp, boxer Vijender Singh visited the venue on Day-3 to spread word about Peta's save the circus animals cause. "Animals cherish their freedom every bit as much as we do, but circuses deny them their freedom and every other form of natural expression," Singh said.
"Fashion is an effective tool to create awareness about issues, which we tend to overlook," ", said Sunil Sethi, president of FDCI (Fashion Design Council of India). "We are teaming up with Peta to protect and respect animals and giving them the right to live unreservedly." Inspired by a very colourful tribe ~ the Maoris of New Zealand ~ Nachiket Barve presented a collection focusing on tattoos and predominant motifs like silver ferns, which are an important part of Maoris iconography. From flowing gowns to dresses and saris to trousers, Barve gave a new rendition of the natives. The Maori originated with settlers from eastern Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages some time between 1250 and 1300. Over several centuries in isolation, the Polynesian settlers developed a unique culture that became known as the "Maori", with their own language, a rich mythology, distinctive crafts and performing arts. Early Maori formed tribal groups, based on eastern Polynesian social customs and organisation.
Her power
Kolkata-based designer, Paromita Banerjee's latest collection Tana Bana was a tale of hand made clothing woven by women. While hand made might seem clichéd, the edge on the collection was contributed by shades of midnight blue, bright olives and all natural hues of rust, cherry and maroon. The fabric used by Paromita in her collection was hand-woven by women weavers from the charitable trust Women Weave from Madhya Pradesh. This trust has been sustaining employment of women in handloom weaving. Banerjee said, "We are probably the only brand that is consistently working on handlooms. While many have made a shift to handloom only recently we are doing this from the beginning."
Regarding the women weavers, Banerjee has been using fabrics from Women Weave for a couple of years now. Two different woven fabrics have been joined together in the weaving stage to create the textured surfaces that tends to have a denim sort of texture. Woven by Narmada Ben and Shahnaaz Ben from Madhya Pradesh, Tana Bana not only set the trend of autumn-winter but also how fashion can go miles in empowering.
Using mulberry silk, hand spun cotton and Azo-free vat dyes, Banerjee's range uses two-coloured ply and twisted thread to add texture to the woven surface. Each colour is woven into 7-8 inch blocks making checkered fabric blankets, creating a wonderful colour interaction. Anisha Ben, Anju Ben were the weavers in this range. Setting the ramp ablaze with kurtas, jama, short capes, draped silhouettes and men's style kurtas along with checkered palazzo pants,
the collection is apt for evening.
Going wild
Designer duo David Abraham and Rakesh Thakore selected wild silk from northeast India for the collection. "Our collection is inspired by empowered women and wild silk of northeast," Abraham said after the show. Muga, Tussar and Eri are fabrics woven from wild silk, which was used to create the line. The collection with a palette based on the golden hues of wild silk, evoked various shades of khaki. Tussar with animal print took the front seat. There was less skin show and winter outfits like trench coat over a sari, military inspired blouson jacket with kurta and even shawl and scarves were displayed.
Against crony capitalism
Christened V, Gaurav Jai Gupta collection was a visual fight for the rights of the Dongria Kondh tribe of South West Orissa, which has resisted the corporate takeover of Niyamgiri Hills for bauxite mining by Vedanta Resources. Hand-woven with natural yarns, the collection consists of separates and draped pieces referring to industrial work wear and the local's way of dressing. Outwears in wools along with Pashmina-like cottons in earthly browns creates conflict with warm pop colours like purples and bright yellows. Coal blue has been used to make the base of the warp, referring to mining. Kondhs used music in local Oriya and Kui tribal languages as an act of protest. V spreads the idea of development at the cost of crony capitalism and celebrates India's first environmental referendum, wherein the judiciary decided in favour of the Kondhs. Engineered hand-woven fabrics have been developed in monofilament silks along with cotton, stainless steel and wool.
"We have made the cotton fibre with wool to make it look like Pashmina and the silk threads were treated to look like organza," said Gaurav. "The collection is for a woman with brains, who gives a damn about fashion, and is comfortable donning her own style. It's all about standing up for your rights and fighting for it."
Off the ramp, boxer Vijender Singh visited the venue on Day-3 to spread word about Peta's save the circus animals cause. "Animals cherish their freedom every bit as much as we do, but circuses deny them their freedom and every other form of natural expression," Singh said.
"Fashion is an effective tool to create awareness about issues, which we tend to overlook," ", said Sunil Sethi, president of FDCI (Fashion Design Council of India). "We are teaming up with Peta to protect and respect animals and giving them the right to live unreservedly." Inspired by a very colourful tribe ~ the Maoris of New Zealand ~ Nachiket Barve presented a collection focusing on tattoos and predominant motifs like silver ferns, which are an important part of Maoris iconography. From flowing gowns to dresses and saris to trousers, Barve gave a new rendition of the natives. The Maori originated with settlers from eastern Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages some time between 1250 and 1300. Over several centuries in isolation, the Polynesian settlers developed a unique culture that became known as the "Maori", with their own language, a rich mythology, distinctive crafts and performing arts. Early Maori formed tribal groups, based on eastern Polynesian social customs and organisation.
Revival on runway
Parmoita Banerjee's Tana Bana also had block prints using the natural dyed technique of Ajrakh on Gajji silk. This ancient print technique, dating back to at least 4000 years in the Sindh area, uses geometric forms along the lines of the Islamic grid structure to create print surfaces in hand-block printing. Traditional Ajrakh designs have been modified to create silk surfaces in placement block prints. Colour palettes of Indigo, Harda, Alizarin, Kat /black have been used as part of this range. Paromita has also explored with wool for the first time in the form of merino wool stoles inspired by Kinnaur motifs from Kangra valley. The footwear have a base of Canabis grass that is only found in the Kangra valley. Other footwear like jutis have multi-coloured wool on top.
Arjun Saluja's Between Time had print motif taking a bow to the geometry of Pakistan's Khais, a dying tradition of weaves from Sindh. Arjun has used wool, georgette, cotton, silks, Jacquard silk and self-plaids to create simplistic and clean silhouettes.
Charu Parashar revived the age-old Indian embroidery techniques and presented them in a westernised way. The various embroidery techniques which she used were: Resham work, Kasab embroidery and patterns with intricate applique work. "I do embroidery but in different forms every time. This time it is concentrated on the Resham work. I just wanted to do something which has Indian roots but you can wear it on a Hollywood red carpet," Parashar said after the show. Her untitled collection comprised kaftans, sarees worn over fitted jackets, tops and dresses in the hues of cobalt blue, black and red.
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