Tradition meets oodles of contemporary style and glamour at Vedhika boutique’s new festive collection. “We wanted to celebrate traditional Kerala motifs in the collection. We’ve thus played around with bold motifs and designs such as the Kathakali face, country boat, Pookkalam, banana plant, peacock feather, mural art, and so on,” says Maithri Anand, who along with Anupama S. runs the boutique. The duo seems to have brought out their inner Masaba Guptas, big motifs and all, while designing the collection.
The collection itself, is a treasure trove of delight – there are saris, kurtas, kurtis, dupattas, dress material, and davanis, for women and children, in a range of colours and combinations, most of which are priced between Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 3,000. Choice items in this include saris and salwar sets with big motifs, multi-hued contrast borders and matching blouses. In keeping with the season, there’s a huge collection of traditional Kerala saris, set-mundu, and cream-coloured cotton kurtas with choice motifs and colourful embellishments. Highlights of this are pieces with Navaratna work, Kantha work, bird motifs, rosewater dispenser motif, zardosi work, French lace and so on, apart from traditional mural paintings.
The standout pieces in the new collection are undoubtedly the davani sets, which are inspired by Deepika Padukone’s look in Chennai Express . Priced between Rs. 5, 000 and Rs. 20,000, these regal sets comprise stitched flared skirts, davanis and blouses in a range of pleasing shades with shots of dazzling colour here and there as tassels, prints, on the border and the blouses, and so on . “The blouses for this are unstitched and it’s got enough material to wear it as a lehengas if customers wish to,” says Maithri.
Onam is also the season for gifting. As such there is a range of fashionable light-cotton Kotas in a variety of hues.
