What comes to your mind when you think of love?” From this question and the ensuing discussion was born Love Story, the latest collection from Ethicus. As a young girl from a Pollachi-based family rooted to the cotton business, Vijayalakshmi Nachiar was exposed to the world of textiles and colourful embroidery. Having harboured the childhood dream of working with material, colours and designs, it was no surprise when she excelled in the field with a Masters in Textiles & Clothing.
Ethicus is the brainchild of Vijayalakshmi and her husband, Mani, both of whom ventured into organic contract farming in 2005. “When we started with cotton farming, we realized the extent of pesticides and pollutants that normally go into such a process. We decided to do something about it and started with organic contract farming,” says Vijayalakshmi. “That led us to create a brand of organic clothing, particularly suited to the Indian market.” And, Ethicus came into being, in 2009.
Each Ethicus sari comes with a tag containing the weaver’s photograph, name, age and the number of days he took to weave the sari.
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“When a customer buys a garment, they don’t realize it has gone through so many adept hands. So, we wanted to give the weavers an identity,” recalls Vijayalakshmi. “Mani and I are just catalysts. This story isn’t about us, it’s about the weavers. Today, customers are becoming more aware of the effort that goes on behind making a beautiful piece of clothing.”
“Unlike our previous collections, this one features an ensemble of quirky saris. We need to get more youngsters to wear saris. So, we decided to move out of our comfort zone and do something different,” explains Vijayalakshmi.
The collection of 18 saris highlights different aspects of love such as young love, romance, seduction, separation and longing.
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Vijayalakshmi, with her creative team at Ethicus, came up with ideas/objects that remind one of love and worked on incorporating these into the saris. “For instance, cherry blossom motifs with their pink colour, as soft as a blush, signify young love. The lotus motif is more traditional and represents the promise of love. Another sari with designs resembling the Taj Mahal stands for separation and longing,” she says. One of the most interesting creations would be the sari symbolizing seduction, which combines black, the gold of champagne and the red of rose petals to create a truly alluring piece.
She is enthusiastic as she talks about the use of contrasting colours in this ensemble. “Organic doesn’t always have to mean dull colours. The saris in this collection are all colourful with quirky designs, especially to attract young women.” Vijayalakshmi strongly believes that the six-yard garment is here to stay.
“Sari is the most sustainable of all garments. With so many ways to drape it and the one-size-fits-all feature, it is suitable for every body type. It can give you the sexy look as well as the serious one; no other clothing has this kind of flexibility.”
With more and more youngsters identifying the beauty and grace that the attire can exude, the sari definitely seems to be a popular choice of dressing.
Love Story, will be on display at Raintree, Sankey Road on June 12 and 13.