Virtually Everyone

They are not an exception as an increasing number of designers are now relying on digital printing. When Joy Mitra decided to pay a tribute to the 100 years of Indian cinema through his collection “Abhinay” at WIFW Autumn/ Winter 2013,he also sought the help of digital printing. “I am an ardent fan of Indian cinema as well as a collector,” admits Mitra who pulled out old images from his archives for the collection. “I wanted to do so much but decided to go with prints of iconic films and scenes in Indian cinema,” says Mitra,who presented the likes of an Umrao Jaan print on an anarkali to even a screen shot from the film Silsila on a maxi dress.

Internationally,Japanese designer Issey Miyake is credited for being one of the first to use digital printing techniques in fashion as early as in the ’90s. It has since become integral to many brands with leading Indian designers such as Manish Arora and Tarun Tahiliani using the technique extensively. From lipsticks to telephone booths to circuits,Masaba Gupta’s debut collection for Satya Paul at WIFW AW 2013 was a winning example of the power of print.

“It’s essentially a form of printing where any type of design can be printed on a fabric in any colour and shading as required. It’s a one-way printing of the whole design and doesn’t have to be printed in layers,unlike screen printing or block printing,” explains Raipurani.

Designer Aarti Vijay Gupta also vouches for the popularity of digital prints. “I used digital prints in my last collection where I had featured prints of diagrams and sketches. This time,I played up the India connection,” she says. In fact,when she first conceived her Lakme Fashion Week Summer-Resort 2013 line,she had thought of using embroideries in a big way. “Instead,I chose to offer a refreshing take on India through stamps,maps and sketches of icons such as Mahatma Gandhi,” she recalls,adding how prints allow one to go easy on embroidery and thus lend more wearability to the clothes.

Additional reporting by Vidya Prabhu