“I had a black-and-white cropped blouse with dinosaurs printed on it that I teamed with a linen sari. My daughter decided it would look better with her trousers and so she has it now,” laughs Aparna Sunku, who also has a yellow cotton blouse printed with black flamingoes. I look doubtfully at her and she assures me that similar blouses were a sell-out at a recent Flea Market in the city. She is visibly delighted about that. “I showed young women how a sari can be trendy when worn with a funky blouse. And how the same blouse can be so easily paired with trousers or a skirt.”
Sunku jokes that she is the queen of kitsch and quirky. It is evident wherever you turn in her Studio A. Assorted laces trail seductively out of a wicker basket; sequins, buttons and other blingy accessories wink from a shelf where they are lined up; stacks and stacks of brocades, neon silks, organza and other gauzy fabrics occupy vast quantities of space and right in the middle is a small table where Sunku sits, surrounded by her precious possessions.
“People notice what I wear and want me to tailor the same things for them,” she says. “By themselves they may not try anything other than the tried and tested , but when they see me pulling off a stylish and (in their opinion) outlandish creation so comfortably, even on formal occasions, they take courage!” Not for her the staid and sombre. She loves her bling and more the kitsch the happier she is.
Wear it on your sleeves
Sunku is on a mission to get her clients to try new things. “Experimenting with the sleeves alone can make a difference,” she declares rattling off a long list of sleeve styles — Flared, butterfly, ruffled, balloon and the cold shoulder! “We have come a long way from ‘exact-matching’, 80 cm of cloth for blouses. Now some of them take as much as two meters to tailor,” she says.
Trendy and over the top A blouse on display at 'Studio A' in Coimbatore
Sunku has no formal training in designing or tailoring. But today she mentors fashion students from design schools. She gives them hands-on tips on doing business, managing finances and, of course, playing to their strengths and not trying to do too much too soon. She has won several entrepreneur and achievement awards and is regularly invited to colleges to talk to students of fashion. And while she participates only in very exclusive exhibitions, she says she has clients from Thailand, Canada, Australia and of course the United States. No prizes for guessing what they want from her — blouses.
Sunku is a big hit with soon-to-be-brides and their moms. “I also make traditional blouses, and even there, I can’t resist introducing a hint of funk,” she laughs pointing to a very red and very shiny wedding blouse with long cascading chiffon sleeves.
As she is on a constant quest for new fabrics and new styles, Sunku has discovered the joy of working with local fabrics.
Cool stuff right here
“There is so much we get in Coimbatore. I like the idea of using them. Sustainable is a good word for me,” she smiles. Sunku also designs other clothes (though blouses are her first love). As I am not yet up to dinosaurs and flamingoes, I pick a cool cotton fabric in black, off white and grey. I feel my customary style (dull and boring) will be way out of her league. But she assures me she will not disappoint. But I know she is thinking a little bit of funk will do me a world of good and I come away dreaming of cold shoulders.
