Designers at Day 1 of the India Fashion Week draw their inspiration from various silhouettes that natural landscapes offer
Climate change isn’t just becoming the talk for environment activists. The debate around plastic ban and zero-waste policy has reached fashion designers too. Designers at FDCI’s India Fashion Week 2019 focussed on sustainable development and drew inspiration from nature in their designs and motifs.
Designer Amita Gupta Sustainable’s collection, Prith-WE, attempted sustainability in every step of the way — yarn to yardage until the final garment. Using techniques of Jamdani and Batik, Amita created a variety of handwoven khadi fabrics and translates them into fun, and easy to wear silhouettes. Promoting the idea of ‘zero waste’, the collection utilised the warp wastage from the looms and converted it into a range of exclusive garments.
Designer Diksha Khanna’s collection Pine Breeze, on the other hand, took one back to one’s childhood memories as she drew inspiration from her days spent in Almora and painted the quaint picturesque town nestled in lap of Himalayas in her designs. She said, “It is a perfect escapade from our fast-paced and mundane city life. However, life in the hills is slow but calming and beautiful.” Taking inspiration from the cool mornings, lush green mountains, cobbled pathway steps, array of pine trees, and the nuances in the local regional costumes, her designs have been interpreted with new shapes and silhouettes that fall within the androgynous range and are complemented with nature-inspired motifs. Hilly, uneven pathways are reimagined with loosely-pleated denims, patched with languid sheer Chanderi layers. Through dramatic tie-dyed ribbed hoodies and placement shibori panels, she made the sunset skies come alive. Leftover scrap yarns have also been dip-dyed and used in creating unique fringe patterns to depict motion with tranquility.
There are ivory linen fringe saris, denim jersey kurtas with sheer joggers set, organic handwoven khadi denim, scrap hand distress denim, breezy silk Chanderi, Ahimsa silk and handwoven linen.
Another collection, Dastaan by Pramaa by Pratima Pandey narrated how the label embodies the nuances and the shades of the rich Indian handloom. Using the delicate and luxuriously rich Chanderi fabric, Pratima layered it with opulent embroidery of flora and fauna motifs. Her collection featured classic layered kurtas, drapes, saris and dresses.
Quwa, collection by Ragini Ahuja, was inspired by various cultures of the world — Persian, Tibetan, Arabic, Uzbek — and recognises itself with the women of fire, who empower, liberate and inspire each other to wander more and build their own tribe. Ragini used dark colours to signify rebellion and strength like deep navy, autumnal rust, mint tea and beige with slate blue as accent. Through meticulously graphed florals and multi-thread stripes, she created her designs keeping in mind a fierce, defiant and soulful woman. The silhouettes were relaxed with soft tailoring and volumes.
Her collection featured long a-lined jackets, multi-thread saris, hybrid kameez, shirt and kurtas.
