Lady Luxe

The new collection,Jaising says,is inspired by a painting she saw in a shop in London. “It was by an anonymous painter and was called Three Vampire Vixens. The three vampires were wearing skin-tight,very sexy clothing and there was an undeniable sensuousness and beauty in them. I thought to myself that more than vampires,they look like goddesses.” ‘From Goddesses to Vampires’ will reflect this transformation through the use of colour,silhouette and embellishments. “As we progress from Goddesses to Vampires,the colours will get darker — black,purple and blood red. The silhouettes will get more severe and structured and the gold embellishments will go from being halo-like to dull,” she explains.

T-shirts embellished with crystals,strongly reminiscent of her 2003 fall-winter ‘Maharani’ collection,have been given prominent display in the store. Does non-glamorous everyday wear hold special inspiration for her? “I always think that it can be made more special,” she says,lovingly smoothing away the crease on one T-shirt,“Why can’t these comfortable clothes be made a little more luxurious,with zardozi or stone-work?” It’s no wonder that Tarun Tahiliani once described her designs as embodying the aesthetic of modern India. “I make clothes for the export market,so obviously the silhouettes have to be contemporary,but I always add a touch of traditional Indian work,whether it’s the resham thread embroidery or the Mughal floral print,” says the 44-year-old. The queen of ‘Bohemian Luxe’ is perhaps best known as the inventor of the kurti as we know it today. With Jaising’s intervention,the once-staid garment became a glamorous garment,versatile enough to be worn as a dress or with jeans,short skirts,shorts or even cargo pants — the last combination is highly recommended by the designer. The moment of epiphany,she says,came to her one morning while she was brushing her teeth. “I usually wear a kurti to bed. That morning,as I looked at myself in the mirror,it suddenly struck me that if I put some bling on it,the kurti can be made very different.” At that time she was in the process of creating her spring-summer collection for 2000 and realised that the new and improved kurti could be the X-factor. “Each collection has to have that one outstanding element; in my case,it was the kurti — it sold fabulously well in India and abroad. To this day,that’s the garment that I’m most proud of.”