Wild Encounters

Rakesh Thakore (left) and David Abraham.

Every season, veteran designers David Abraham and Rakesh Thakore look to develop a modern collection, which draws on the rich traditional vocabulary of Indian design and craft. On Day Three of WIFW A-W ’14, the duo walked a familiar path but drove home the point that silk can be more than a smooth charmer. It can be subtle as well as structured and sharp.

Looking to interpret “sleek uniform dressing” for the city, the designers chose an urban safari as their mood-board. “Where the streets of the city are the terrain and a smartphone the defence” — read their concept note. This story translated into a collection that was befittingly autumn-winter, comprising trench coats, safari dresses, kediyas teamed with long skirts, and sari dresses. Silk and all its types — from classic Indian silks, such as tussar and muga, to Eri or Ahimsa silk (where the worms are not killed and allowed to leave the cocoon on their own)and similar wild silk yarns — have been used by the designers. Interestingly, they worked with weavers from all over the country in the past few months to explore techniques from different regions. The end result is a mix of silk fabrics — there is refined modern brocade made using tussar yarns by weavers of Varanasi, and innovative silk woven in both double and single ikat by weavers from Andhra Pradesh.

The classic temple motif, familiar on sari borders, saw a new interpretation as modern geometrics. Instead of being weighed down by tradition, the garments boast contemporary silhouettes. Separates, such as the baggy salwar with pockets, a leopard print ikat trench coat, long skirts with shiny golden belts with phone holders and metallic knapsacks will surely find their way on many an urban worker’s wish list.

For a collection that used wild silk as a canvas, it was also interesting to see the designers explore animal print using Indian weaves, probably for the first time. They zeroed in on the leopard print and it appeared on coats, slim-fit pants, even saris. But, unlike past collections, where the designers have showcased stark monotones and vibrant colours, this autumn-winter line-up was muted. The golden hues of wild silk along with many shades of khaki lead the colour palette. As much as we would have liked to see a few bursts of a different colour in the collection, it was definitely the highlight of Day Three.