The countdown is almost finished and it is near pandemonium in the fashion design department of St. Teresa's College. The graduation show of the Bachelor of Fashion Technology (B.F.T) students is on Monday, April 11, which is just two days away. The show is on Monday.
This show is important for the college as this is the first batch which is passing out after the degree course was introduced in 2008. The college also offers a one year diploma course. There is a constant barrage of queries, doubts, problems to find solutions for Lekha Srinivasan, head of the department and Supriya Vinod, one of the teachers of the fashion design department to deal with. The collections are in the atelier, so to speak. “The garments are getting ready,” says Lekha.
Upbeat
The fittings are on, which explains the presence of men on the campus. Thirteen is definitely a cheerful number, all the girls are upbeat about the show and excited too. The final show is called ‘Visions - April's Eve'.
Inspiration has come from various sources. Colours, countries, cultures are just some of the few things that have inspired these ‘eves'. Spirituality, pop art, time, wit and even the black hole have been expressed through garments. Humour meets seriousness meets originality in most of the collections. And some of the collections are purely inspired pieces of art and design. Rather than just pick up a fabric and ‘design', a few of the girls have fashioned their own fabric through digital printing and even some good old fashioned fabirc painting. ‘Pop Art' by Elizabeth Jeena Roy is Andy Warhol inspired, not copied. She has got made digital prints of Karimeen motifs, film posters of the Sheela era, lanterns on fabrics (in vivid shades of green and turquoise) and made garments out of them.
Each of the themes is, without doubt, high sounding, but when the girls start explaining why they chose a particular theme then it is clear that it is well thought out. Therefore when Ashwathy K. Soman talks about the ‘Spirituality of a Circle', and the completeness of a circle and linking it to air, and its relevance as a ‘Panchabhuta' it makes perfect sense. The garments have been constructed using shades of white and off white. She cut out small circles out of three metres of fabric. Which is why Neeha Jose, a sci-fi fan, has a perfectly sensible argument as to why her collection, ‘Mystic Bubble' has been inspired by the blackhole. Neeha doesn't see the black hole as the vaccum it actually is, she uses heavy colours such as black, purple etc in her collection.
‘Wotz the time, Babe?' by Rose Elsa Derrin has time as inspiration. Therefore her collection has plenty of motifs derived from watches (dials, needles etc), calendars etc and bright colours. There are two collections which are China-inspired – Sruthy Unnikrishnan's ‘100 Flowers Blossom' and ‘Imperial Qingbai' by Divya Raj N. The former has drawn inspiration from that brief period in Chinese history when art was encouraged in the 50s, particularly paintings of that period and the latter by Qingbai ware which is ceramic pottery in shades of blue and white; “drawing inspiration from the shape of the pottery too”. Chinju Joy's ‘Treasures of the Third World' and Nikkitta Simenthi's ‘Sahraa Sarab' draw inspiration from West Asia, the former from Morocco and Nikkitta from deserts or rather mirages.
Chinju's collection has a profusion of placement embroidery and interesting drapes; while Nikkitta's is more about layers. Ayana Appukuttan's ‘Unexplored Asoma' has been inspired by Assam and its beautiful scenery, festivals and costumes. If Kavitha Baby's ‘Neo Grunge' seeks inspiration from things grunge-inspired. ‘Illusory Feats' by Saranya V. O. owes its existence to a childhood filled with stories of magic. The pirate (and Pirates of the Caribbean) inspired ‘Jolly Roger' collection by Jovia Mary Josephine conveys the sense of constriction and discomfort that sailors (pirates included) feel. ‘Witzig' is a tribute to the clown by Neetha Joseph. Tenali Raman and Birbal have inspired her. By the way the designers have designed enough for men too!
The final show of this bunch of 13 designers promises to be one show of inspiration.
