Art is haute

High fashion has found its new Muse in the fine arts

DESIGNER PAYAL JAIN is an art afi-cionado by her own admission. 8220;I travel a lot around the world and whenever I have the time, I make sure I drop in at an exhibi-tion. That8217;s one of my favourite pastimes,8221; she says. Little wonder, then, that Jain8217;s love for the arts spills over to her work as well.

Her autumn-winter 2006 collection, 8216;Meta-morphosis8217;, was inspired by 19th century Aus-trian painter Gustav Klimt, the founder of the Vi-enna Secession school of painting. Klimt8217;s works embody the high-key psychological and aesthetic preoccupations of Vienna8217;s dazzling intellectual world at the turn of the century.

Jain is one of a growing tribe of Indian design-ers who are looking to the arts8212;paintings, mu-sic, films and literature8212;for inspiration. De-signer Nandita Basu8217;s clothes, for example, reflect a strong leaning towards the works of Andy Warhol, Colombian street art and the Art Nouveau movement. Design house Satya Paul recently did a range of saris influenced by the works of several European masters, including Klimt, Henri Matisse and Piet Mondrian.

The trend has been prevalent in Europe for a while. But in India, it8217;s of more recent vintage. 8220;One of the reasons Indian designers have taken so long is that India is so rich in fabrics and design skills,8221; says art critic Sharan Apparao. It was Tarun Tahiliani who set the trend in motion a few years ago, with his line of jewelled T-shirts.

He digitally printed miniatures on his T-shirts, which went on to be a rage among fashionistas. One of the most impressive shows at the re-cently concluded India Fashion Week was by Ra-jesh Pratap Singh. The Delhi designer had a painting of a chandelier strategically placed as a backdrop to the ramp. Reason? 8220;This collection was influenced by Satyajit Ray8217;s 1958 classic Jal-saghar.

I8217;d have loved to break a chandelier on the ramp. But since that wasn8217;t on, I had to make do with a painting,8221; says the reticent designer. Kolkata designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee feels the growing interdependence has a lot to do with the changing approach to life. 8220;People, now looking to simplify their lives, are turning in-ward. Paintings and music are the best manifes-tations of those positive emotions,8221; he says. His recent collection 8216;The Snail8217; was influenced by Leonard Cohen8217;s music, among other things.

It8217;s not just the established lot who are exper-imenting. Take for instance, newbie designer Gaurav Gupta who debuted at the IFW. Gupta did a thesis on the relationship between art and fashion during his stint at London8217;s Saint Mar-tins College of Art and Design, and predictably, puts all the weighty theory into practice as he cuts, patterns and embroiders. Gupta8217;s illusion drape line is inspired by Belgian surrealist artist Rene Magritte8217;s works.

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Apparao has the last word on this. 8220;So far, the influence in India has been very direct and lit-eral, but the moment you try breaking out of moulds and look to re-interpret things for your-self, you have begun to evolve as an artist and as a designer.8221; Amen to that, we say.