There are fashion designers who aren’t really, well, designers. A glitzy visiting card with an equally fancy label name doesn’t quite prove anything. Ask me, for I have learnt the hard way — a corset that snapped midway through a party, an ill-fitting, off-shoulder dress that had to be discarded, and a “designer” so unprofessional that the Consumer Action Group had to step in. Well, that was seven years ago, when the city didn’t really have a fine balance. There were the high-end-fashion-week-showcasing designers and then the fly-by-night, aggressively-marketing ones.
However, thankfully, in the last five-six years, some ‘real’ designers have mushroomed in the city and have come up with interesting creations that reflect their passion for fashion. The once dull high-street space is now vibrant with a talented bunch of designers, their minds brimming with fresh ideas.
Television, glossies and movies, fashion is now everywhere. “It’s only getting more popular. Students are seeing it as a viable career option. There is a demand for it,” says Ritika Arya Jain, who started Montage Fashion House in 2010. An alumna of London College of Fashion, Ritika says it was initially difficult to understand the market and source the desired material. A few exhibitions later, more people got acquainted with her label and “things started falling into place”. She started with specialising in Indo-Western, and as her client list grew, so did their demands.
Now, ethnic and wedding wear too are part of her prêt and made-to-measure collection. She stocks 300 pieces with a new piece being added every other day by her eight-member team. With a change in people’s spending patterns and with the constant need to show up in something trendy and yet different, the designers are all the more in demand and are to an extent responsible for the way the city dresses today. In a day, Ritika’s store has about 15 people walking in. “My clientele is in the age group of 18 to 45. I don’t even need to advertise,” she smiles.
With the city playing host to quite a few multi-designer outlets, why didn’t Ritika retail through one of them? “We did that in Mumbai and still do so in Kolkata. But in Chennai, I wanted my own store. It’s important for a designer to be known for her individuality. People prefer a large variety than seeing a small collection at a multi-brand boutique. They prefer a personal interaction as it gives them more confidence and that’s something I can achieve through Montage,” she adds.
Bianca Jeswant and Varsha Isaacs of Which With believe that to begin with it’s good for a brand to be seen with bigger names. “People look at the substance rather than the names,” say the designers, who started retailing out of Silk Route, Ashvita, Studio Prajanya and Adoniya. Now, they have their own space, which represents only their style. Launched in 2013, the NIFT graduates’ brand is all about “designer clothes at a reasonable price”. After graduating, the first six months were spent in understanding the pulse, requirements and mindset of the market.
They started by making all the outfits on their own but now have two tailors to assist them. Tracking the ever-evolving trend is serious business. “The crop tops and skirts are getting shorter, a style which clients wouldn’t have preferred earlier,” says Bianca. Experimentation is probably at its peak among connoisseurs of style and that explains why their last Autumn/Winter collection, which used a lot of safety pins and blades, got sold out. “Our clothes are a fun exploration of colour, print and texture on clean simple lines; they have an edgy twist,” says Varsha. But that hasn’t deterred their middle-aged clients. “While the 20-somethings prefer to pick-up off the rack, the older clients go for customised outfits. We make one outfit in three sizes and stock around 50-60 styles,” adds Varsha.
Meanwhile, amidst the plush interiors of Amethyst, along with big names of the fashion world, are clothes by Priyanjoli Basu. Her work blends Indian handlooms with global styles — the highlight being hand-woven cotton saris that reflect the weaving tradition of Hyderabad, West Bengal and a few villages in Tamil Nadu. Her eponymous label was launched in 2012. Post a five-year stint as a stylist in Mumbai, an interest in textiles led her to take to designing. “I worked with an NGO in West Bengal that revives old saris by turning them into contemporary silhouettes for modern women. Then I went to London to study fashion for a year,” says Priyanjoli.
“Today, a lot of designers are working with weavers, as there is a growing awareness and interest in supporting community-based craft traditions,” says Priyanjoli, who primarily works with fabrics such as Bengal cotton, mul, malkha and Kanchi cotton. “The concept of high-street has picked up. Shoppers today have realised that clothes don’t have to be from high-end brands.” The designer, who also has a boutique on ECR, feels that there is a marked increase in independent designers in the city. “Clothes are need-based. Everybody is conscious about dressing up… social media is perhaps responsible for it. This has created a market for newer ideas. There is place for everyone here,” says Priyanjoli.
