A Silk Yarn

Designer Samant Chauhan has endeavoured to bring Bhagalpur and its silk into the mainstream fashion world. He is not entirely new to the city market – Rudraksh at Aundh does store some of his pieces,and with his show today at the ABIL Pune Fashion Week,he hopes to take his relationship with Pune to the next level. “It’s a market I want to conquer,along with Hyderabad and Bangalore. The response here has been very good. From what I understand of the Pune consumers,they want to experiment. They don’t want the conventional chudidar-kurta,” says the designer.

He has created a completely new Rajputana line for the PFW. The collection is inspired by the Victorian influence on the Royal Rajasthani gharanas during the British rule. “I’ve used antique zari,Rajasthani techniques of embroidery,Victorian motifs on the embroidery and gold block printing techniques to create the look,” he says. His signature colour palette is beige,brown and gold. On the city ramp,Chauhan will showcase lehengas,gowns,sherwanis and angarakhas in Victorian styling.

The Bhagalpur silk which this designer is passionate about is more suited to colder climes thus limiting its wearability. Will the PFW collection see any fabric innovation so that it translates into business? “Yes,” he says,adding,”We have developed a fabric which has real gold zari in every second warp. It’s very rich. It’s fused and textured with kora cotton-silk — it’s lighter and can be worn in summer.”

Chauhan does not expect the same business opportunities in Pune as at the fashion week in Delhi. “See,so many designers debut at Lakme Fashion Week,make a mark and then move to the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week in Delhi. Everyone knows which one has more business opportunities. So,one cannot expect the same buyers and media in every city,” he says. He is looking at Pune as a future market. “In the next five years,I want to build and establish my brand here and a local fashion week will help me do just that,” he says.