E-Paper
Anuradha Vakil
"I see myself more as a revivalist of textile crafts than a 'fashion designer', simply because the base of my design is always traditional Indian textiles and in my own small way, I contribute towards their preservation" says Anuradha Vakil.
"I see myself more as a revivalist of textile crafts than a 'fashion designer', simply because the base of my design is always traditional Indian textiles and in my own small way, I contribute towards their preservation" says Anuradha Vakil.
NOOR, her design firm came in to being eight years back out of her passion for textile crafts, especially Indian handlooms and today, her label retails out of prestigious design houses in India and abroad.
She has chosen to work with hand woven natural fiber fabrics and travels extensively in her search for the unusual and beautiful. She works with master weavers and crafts people in most textile centers, which range from Kalamkari hand painters in Kalahasthi, Andhra Pradesh to Bandhani karigars in Mundra. She designs Indian wear, which has a timeless feel to it and her clothes are very simply cut, as the focus is always on the textile: the weave, the print, the craft.
She designs for a woman who has a finely tuned sense of aesthetics, someone who is as committed and passionate about things created by hand. Predictably, she has a clientele from the fields of arts, theatre and design. Being an ardent lover of Indian classical music and kathak, she doesn't really mind her clothes being labeled 'arty'. She knows that her clothes are not meant for everyone and she prefers it that way. People like Shabana Azmi and Mallika Sarabhai are among her fiercely loyal clients.
Every season, she puts together new collections, which are usually based on a particular textile craft. Each of these comes after months of intense travels and experiments and with sheer ingenuity of our craftsmen.
Lately, in her work, the emphasis has been on using vegetable dyes in most craft traditions. With the world waking up to the environment issues, these are so much more relevant today.
Her label retails from some of the best fashion addresses in India including 'Carma' in Delhi, 'Melange' in Mumbai and 'Anuradha Vakil' in Ahmedabad.
THE FOCUS
A collection entirely in handicrafted silks - colours rich, glowing like jewels - textures varied, from coarse khadi-like silks to shimmering, sensuous fabrics - each piece of textile, as always, especially developed for the collection from the weaving stage. Old textiles, lovingly restored, juxtaposed with the contemporary. Extremely fine needlework, many a times tone-on-tone, calling for a closer look. Simplicity of styling, a common thread running through the entire collection.
This year, focus of Vakil's collection is the SAREE.
Now, more than ever before, we see the women embrace the old and everlasting, the timeless and the classical. The saree unfolds to tell new narratives - a contemporary woman's reinterpretation of her past, and her desire to re-claim legacies. But on her own terms.
