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All
These Trimmings |
By
Kusumlata |
From
kasida to dabka, lace and even buttons, style,
this season, is about how you decorate your garment.
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Shadow
work mixed with buckles, buttons on
sleeves, texturing, edging, appliqué
with distressed edges, crystals on laser
work, zardozi, gota, pin-tucks, pleats,
smocking, layers. If there is a God
of fashion, it is clearly in details
this festive season and moreover intent
on mix and match.
Says Priya
Awasty, the designer who is brought
out her bridal prêt collection
for fall-winter, “It is a trend
internationally and now boundaries are
blurred as far as regional and national
looks go.”
Traditionally Indian clothes have laid
almost as much emphasis on the embellishment
as they have on the cut and the fabric.
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Designer Ritu Kumar says the odhani is
the biggest embellishment there is.
She adds, “We had zardozi even
1000 years ago. Today embroidery has become
a generic part of Indian couture. Using
the metallic look with zari or reflective
surfaces for embellishment is India’s
contribution to the world.”
According to her, crossovers of different
embroidery, albeit governed by region-specific
rules is not new to India. She cites Kutchi
women using thread work with their mirrors
as one example. She herself has used brocade
edging together with zari borders on kurtas
and lehangas, even as the other classicist
Anuradha Vakil put Shabana Azmi in a silk
kurta with paithani borders and kasida.
Says Awasty, “Earlier one embellishment
was enough. A woman in Bengal would painstakingly
do kantha for a good 8-9 months on a saree
before taking it out for an occasion.
Today even that is mixed with abla, sequins
and mirror work. It is evolution.”
As Indian fashion moves from ethnic to
aesthetic, designers are defining embroidery
and using it as a signature. |
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Whether
it is Rajesh Pratap Singh’s shadow
work polka dots mimicking appliqué,
Rohit Bal’s use of tied saree tassels
on men’s shirts or chikankari jaal
recreated in gota with distress, Payal Jain’s
rooster-patterned zari patches under the
lapels of a kimono top, Krishna Mehta’s
smocking that looked like tukda-bandhej
or Aki Narula’s “sofa-inspired”
cloth buttons placed in the centre of twisted
fabric of skirts, each designer is finding
a reinterpretation.
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Says designer
Narendra Kumar Ahmed who has developed
prints inspired by the art deco buildings
of Marine Lines in Mumbai, “I wanted
to have clothes reflective of each area
of the city. We have combined pitta metal
thread work with prints, matted it with
sequins and still ensured that it does
not become too heavy for a sports jacket.”
Sense in their sensibilities is the sign
of a maturing fashion industry, even as
it decides the pedestal-worthiness of
the designer.
Says designer
Ashish Soni, the minimalist designer who
is bringing out the seams of his men’s
jackets, tearing up edges of appliqué
flowers before putting them on skirts
and with it still managing understatement,
“Ten years ago perhaps I would not
have been done all this. With the designer,
the market has evolved and so has the
customer.”
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So the more embroidery
there is, the more expensive the garment, is
clearly not the benchmark. Sabyasachi Mukherjee,
who calls a patchwork of fabrics, trends or
silhouettes, his signature says, “There
has to be logic and balance in use of ornamentation.
You don’t do embroidery because labour
in India is cheap or you have the means or access
to a type of work. You do it because it goes
with the story that your garment is telling.”
Everything may
not be in its place but clutter isn’t
necessarily the alternative.
Ritu Kumar comments, “Embroidery should
add something to the garment not take away from
it and draw attention to itself.”
In this new age of mix and match the only guiding
principle seems to be your aesthetic sense.
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..- End Of Article.....
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