Different Strokes

Art,Ocean and Dissection

The designers worked with a variety of themes and styles. Vijayvargie used jali designs of Peshwahi paintings on the borders of her silk saris and lehengas. “I did not want to take paintings and print them on my garments. Instead,I figured out a way to pick out an element of the paintings and produce them on the garments,” says Vijayvargie.

Following the same principle,Shivan and Narresh’s swimwear features a riot of colours and the motif of a childlike face made of coloured stone. “Here,childlike is more in the sense of being made by a child rather than of a child,” they clarify,adding that this is broadly the theory behind the Naïve Art movement that started in the ’30s in eastern Europe.

“Simplicity is the DNA of our brand; from the designs to the care of the fabric,everything is simple. Our collection is edgy,bold and simple. The patches of colour on the outfits are inspired by a child scribbling with crayons,” says Narresh.

Malhotra,and designer duo Paras and Shalini,on the other hand,explored the underwater world. Their designs were perked up by lagoons,coral reefs,brightly coloured fish and the mysteries that lie underwater. Inspired by Spanish painter Fernando Vicente’s anatomical work,designer Shweta Kapur started thinking of ways to adapt the theme of the paintings into her next collection. While she pondered on the premise of the anatomy,she stumbled upon the thought of surgery. “The cut that is used to perform a post-mortem on a corpse is used as the style lines on the silhouettes,” she says.

Fusion Fun

A combination of materials and patterns was another highlight on the first day of the fashion week. Vijayvargie fused the traditional Gujarati shibori method with the Japanese method of shibori to create a unique style of figurative designs. “Shibori is a tie-and-dye method. In Gujarat,it is used to create bandhni designs,and in Japan,abstract patterns. For my previous collections,I made the motif of a parrot. This time,I have made the jaali designs from shibori. It is a tedious method but requires intelligent technique,” says Vijayvargie.

Another interesting fusion was of foam and jersey to make a water-proof fabric. Shivan and Narresh say the concept of such a fabric dawned on them when they were planning a swimwear wedding trousseau. They used the new material to make a lehenga,adorned with the childlike motifs common to the entire collection. “We get so many clients for weddings,sangeets,so we thought why not make an interesting and fun wedding outfit for a bride? She can jump into the pool or head to the beach in this lehenga and have fun on her special day,” says Narresh.