Three Cheers: Comeback Trail

Debuts to Watch Out For

The industry is curious about stylist turned designer Pernia Qureshi’s fashion week debut. Her collection,‘An Evening in Paris’,is a throwback to the style of the ’20s and the ’60s with drop-waist dresses,chic cigarette trousers,knee-length fitted dresses and satin mules. Qureshi is a newbie designer,but veteran Pallavi Jaikishan,who has worked for the last 40 years,too,will have her first-ever LFW show. “I couldn’t have celebrated this landmark in a better way,” notes Jaikishan,whose collection is dominated by lehengas,saris,jackets and tunics that use hand embroideries and real zari.

Craft-Draft

The shows on August 5 will be preceded with a session by Jaya Jaitly of the Dastkari Haat Samiti,also an author of several books on Indian arts and crafts. Others participating in this discussion are fashion entrepreneur Maximiliano Modesti,designers Wendell Rodricks and Krishna Mehta and Ritu Sethi,chairperson of the Craft Revival Trust. “Having worked in this field for 45 years now,I can safely say that artisans from across the country are not getting their due. The situation today has improved to an extent,but we still have a long way to go,” says Jaitly. She is bringing down master weaver Padma Shri G Govardhan from Andhra Pradesh and tie and dye artisan Aminaben from Gujarat. Another session hosted by

Rta Kapur Chishti,author of Saris:Tradition and Beyond,will offer an insight into the unstitched garment. The founder of Ananda Delhi Textile,an organisation devoted to organic cotton farming and use of hand-spinning in producing khadi and the label Taanbaan,Chishti will speak on the role of khadi,craftsmanship and the sari in Indian fashion.