Chikankari gets a funky look

It has been a vast learning experience for Vijay and Shobhna Arora, who are veterans as far as The Lakme India Fashion Show is concerned, having participated in it for many years now.

It has been a vast learning experience for Vijay and Shobhna Arora, who are veterans as far as The Lakme India Fashion Show is concerned, having participated in it for many years now. "Each year has been a learning experience for me and I have to work hard to create the best for my label, Anant," says Vijay. This year the designer duo focuses on chikankari, the traditional Lakhnawi embroidery work with a difference. "Chikankari has been done to death by everybody, but it's beautiful embroidery and excites me a lot, so I innovated on it and used it for my creations," says Vijay, who draws inspiration from the stucco work and architecture of the Alhambara in Grenada, Spain. "It has a very Islamic touch with the jaali and patti done in chikankari shadow work which gives it a refreshing look and feel," explains the designer.

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Similarly he takes inspiration from the rich Chinese brocade using it extensively on the border of saris, kurtas and even trousers, creating the dragon and the round emblem among other motifs. The designer duo's creations also boast of the Parsi Gara embroidery work that is replete with floral patterns, birds, cranes, partridges and strokes, all done up in the Gara style using chikankari shadow work. Arora has also worked with Chantily lace giving his creations an old world charm, in colours ranging from salmon to ivory, ebony, mint, aqua, mango, wine, tomato red and lime.

"It has taken me almost a year to complete my Fall/Winter 2004-2005 collection for this year's Lakme India fashion show," he says. Explaining the difficulty in getting the karigars to innovate in shadow work, he says "They need to be constantly guided and supervised against going the traditional way and to embroider in a certain style for the right effect." Describing his work as a mix of pret and diffusion, he adds, "I can't call it just pret as some of my designs would go up from Rs 12,000 to Rs 30,000 while the pret line begins from Rs 800 and ends at Rs 12,000."

Lakhnawi Andaaz

-Chikankari shadow work gets a bold new look in Shobhna and Vijay Arora's'label Anant'
-Oriental brocade adds richness and colour to their creations
-The designer duo has also created menswear using chikankari
-The Parsi Gara, gets a new touch with the chikankari shadow work