A dramatic pink sari, handwoven in silk and zari, using the Jamdani technique, on model Roselynn Raj, by Gaurav Jai Gupta’s Akaaro, championed the classic drape as the winner of the opening show of Lakme Fashion Week X FDCI, held at Delhi’s The Kunj. Though sustainable chic was the vibe with handlooms as the hero and tradition with a contemporary spin, the mood board, the multitasking sari, presented in a smorgasbord of avatars by Akaaro, Anavila and The Edit, was the cynosure of all eyes. One twist was more innovative than the other. From raw charm and subtle romance to gorgeous everydayness. They played out as various personalities, all striking in their ingenuity. Some draped easy-breezy, with beach feels, and there were some that looked cocktail hot. The simplicity of it all, mixed with the element of modern-smart, was lovely.
Anavila Misra, who has been championing linen saris for over a decade now, got her festive line Sarmast, first unveiled in Hyderabad in May, to Delhi. Full of fantasy and romance, with handwoven linen, appliqued satin, and delicate French lace. “We’ve been working with the Khatwa artisans of Jharkhand for a very long time. And, I think in many ways, this was also a celebration of that collaboration which we’ve been working on because I think we’ve reached a space with them where, you know, the craftsmanship, their skill and our design has kind of come together in a way which can be anywhere in the world. It’s very international. The baroque motifs they’ve made with us, the use of golden zari to do those embroideries. So, this is really special in many ways because, you know, it has taken us 14 years, working with the same set of artisans, to be able to create something like this,” she said.
The designer had draped a linen sari for the special occasion. “So this is one of our older collections, a 100 per cent linen sari, handwoven in West Bengal. It’s Jamdani all over. We call it chain Jamdani because it’s really fine, like a chain which is going through the sari and actually takes 60 days to weave it on a loom… intervention of Jamdani and zari into linen textile,” she smiled.
Anavila styled her saris with jackets and belts and said draping could be a creative expression of where you belong. “I started my journey of textiles from West Bengal, weaving the first linen sari there. When you go on the streets or when you are going from Calcutta to the villages, say Phulia, you see so many young women wearing saris on bicycles, on rickshaws, you know, on the move, in the field. I think if we just look at that repertoire and they look so fashionable, so modern, so in control of what they’re wearing and how they’re wearing it…. The women from our past, from our villages, have made the sari so relevant and a part of their everyday life, I think that’s what we need to do. Make it a part of our lifestyle. Look at ourselves in the mirror and see what works for us. For a fisherwoman, a certain kind of drape works; for a farmer, a certain kind of drape works. For West Bengal, all these women I’ve seen, they wear it a little up and, you know, how they drape it around their body. So how do you want to control the sari and what you want to do on an everyday basis, and how the sari supports your lifestyle… that’s what it should be about,” she said.
A sari memory from Amsterdam wafted into our conversation. “I was walking in Amsterdam, and I was wearing a sari, and there was this musician playing, and suddenly he saw me, and he started playing a Hindi tune on his guitar. And that tells you, wherever in the world you are, if you’re wearing a sari people know you’re from India,” said Anavila.
She presently owns 62 of them. Her first sari was a Nalli drape that she bought in Bangalore. The conversation moved to her hand-me-downs. “I have inherited most of the beautiful saris from my mother. They were saris from Benaras, ikats and Jamdanis,” she smiled.
Having dressed so many muses, Anavila felt Vidya Balan, Konkana Sensharma and Sonam Kapoor personified the spirit of a sari. “Sonam has taken the sari to the next level. Every time she does something so beautiful with the sari, you think, oh, you know, even that can be done. I really like her style,” she smiled. Coming up next from her eponymous label is “a very special yarn”.
Akaaro’s Starlight closed the opening show. Saris, separates, checks, metallics and pinks mixed with greys and blues in handwoven silk, khadi silk, cotton, and the brand’s signature kinjis, were sexy-stark. Gaurav Jai Gupta, the force behind Akaaro, said his story with pinks started a while back. “I got a call from the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. They were relaunching the logo, and it had a touch of pink, and I was asked to do some fabrics, and that’s how it started. The colour stayed with me. I think I was quite intrigued by the starkness. There was something about it. It’s intense, right? We just kept developing it, and then when we got this opportunity, we grabbed it and we turned it around. All the work I’ve been doing, the idea is to make it more contemporary. So, I think there’s a lot of power in this show. We continued our journey with blues, which I think we will, and we use them in accents, and just put it together in a way that it just overall looks good and balances it out. And, also, there’s a continuation from the earlier work,” said Gaurav.
He draped his saris like armour and knotted them, which gave them a sense of purpose and statement. “We just have fun with saris each time. I think we like to drape them in new ways. And, I think it always helps what body you’re working with, what is the fabric, what is the overall structure of the sari,” said Gaurav.
Khamir, Iro Iro, Pieux, Aavaran, Kiniho, Runway Nagaland, Jiyo, Vimor, Shrujan, Vriksh and Mirasi, that formed The Edit, also showcased saris, along with dresses, layered looks and jackets in ikat, shibori, cottons, pashminas, and with Kutch embroidery.
They were all a part of The Kunj, a couple of months old and an initiative of the Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, and curated by Cultre, “envisioned as more than a retail destination”. “So, we have around 19 brands, and we have three spaces. The exhibition space is where we are showcasing different crafts. There is a workshop space, which we are giving to craftsmen to do workshops. Then we have kalamanches. Those two kalamanches, we are circulating after every seven days. The idea is that we should have a very holistic experience when you come to a place like this about the craft. You get to see artisans working, and you see finished products. You see design-led products. These are products which are made by the artisans, which are completely pure. There is no design intervention. These are artists who’ve been in the practice because of their family tradition or the area tradition. So, we have just put those pieces with GST. This is pure artisan work. And then we have design-led bands, all from India. Then you have two artisans who are demonstrating so that you also get a sense of how it is made,” Amrit Raj, DC Handicrafts, Ministry of Textiles, told t2.
For both Anavila and Gaurav, The Kunj was an important destination. “You know, standing here at this beautiful venue, which has been curated so mindfully… craft has taken centre stage. It is elevated, beautiful, and everything I look at looks so desirable. This is the dawn of a new era for us. I think all of the stakeholders coming together and making sure that the Fashion Week opens with the evening like this and at a venue like this in itself is a strong message saying that craft is what belongs to us and we’re very proud to own our heritage and our craftsmanship, and this is how we want to showcase it henceforth,” said Anavila.
The Kunj, for Gaurav, was a “much-needed space”. “I think it’s really needed for the transformation, where it is finally bringing craft into the mainstream, more luxury setting. And I think a space totally dedicated to the crafts of India, what better can you ask for? I think it’s a new chapter,” he smiled.
The man at the centre of all the action on the opening evening, Sunil Sethi, chairman, FDCI, dressed dapper in his 10-year-old skull-and-floral-print Rajesh Pratap Singh jacket, a smart shirt and a pair of well-cut trousers, was busy and happy. “The truth is that the Lakme Fashion Week X FDCI has always had a very grand opening. But most of the openings have been with the A-listers. Not to say that what you saw today, they weren’t A-listers. To my mind, what’s important is The Kunj. Every shop here is selling sustainable craft or sustainable textile, or sustainable fashion. So, it was apt to have the two designers I respect a lot, who are Anavila and Gaurav Jai Gupta, and The Edit.”
He added: “Sometimes, there have to be many ingredients to an opening show. For me, the first is the designer. They are prime for me. For me, they are the stars. The second is the location. The location is such that everybody who comes here wants to come again and again. The third is the music, and the fourth is the dance, so the performers. So, the beauty was that there was Kathak done in a traditional form and also in a modern way. I was very happy to see Deveshi (Sahgal) again, a Sufi singer I admire a lot. And definitely, the violinist. Truth be told, the opening show was put together in hardly four or five days, but the fact is, it looked like it was a preparation of one month, at least. So the credit goes to the choreographer, to the models, to the backstage, to the designers who put it together, to the people who played the music, and also to the organisers,” he smiled.
The October edition of LFW x FDCI was held at The Grand New Delhi, Vasant Kunj, from October 8-12.
Saionee Chakraborty
Pictures: Sandip Das