Last December, when Debarun Mukherjee was invited for a show at Dhaka, he took everyone by surprise with an innovative khadi collection, one apt for wedding as well as par-ty. Now don’t allow yourself to get confused with the word “party”. Not referring to any political party in which netas dress up nattily in crisp khadi kurta pyjama but the one in which ordinary folks hang around with friends and families. This was playing on Debarun’s mind while he presented a short yet succinct take on how the handspun and handwoven cloth can get the looks of a luxuriant fabric. The response to outfits was tremendous as the movers and shakers stood in queues to get a dekko of the garments created by the Kolkata-based designer.
“That black and beige with gold collection was a complete sold out. I was a guest of the Bangladeshi counsellor and was elated by this show titled Khadi Festival. It was organised by the Fashion Design Council of Bangladesh and was a moral booster to experiment with khadi,” recalls Debarun.
Buoyed by the enthusiastic response in the neighbouring nation and the recent push to revive handloom and handwoven in his motherland, Debarun has now taken his ingenuous idea to a new level by creating an entire range of men’s and women’s wear wedding collection titled Resplendent Khadi.
“Apart from the interest generated in Dhaka, the big push being given to handloom and handspun clothes in our country also propelled me to do research and created a diverse range of modern-looking outfits which match the taste of present generation. This is my attempt to do my bit for the revival. And the work has given me an opportunity to provide livelihood opportunities to artisans working in Pulia, who specialise in khadi,” says the designer, whose extensive wedding collection comprising sari, lehengas, salwar suits, fusion gowns and tunics are in handspun fabric.
15dmcdebarunmukherjee
Debarun, who started off as a designer specialising in pret before making the switch to couture a couple of years ago at the Amazon India Fashion Week, says in the new collection he is sticking to his new made-to-measure outfits and providing a point that khadi is not limited to just the teeming middle class but can also cater to upwardly mobile party hoppers.
For the ace designer, history of the fabric plays a significant role as it drives him to give shape and style to his saris and lehengas as well as to his bandhgalas and achkans.
“Khadi is a fabric which is based on reasoning. Its significance was realised when Mahatma Gandhi started spinning the yarn and showed the way to the masses that this was their fabric. Now it is high time that we take khadi to the next level, where it can be worn as a bright party wear. To achieve that we have to do research, improvisation and present the fabric in a way that it appeals modern sensibilities.
The outfits have been made to match international standards in terms of fittings, sleekness and bling. And this is precisely what I have done,” says the designer, whose collection is on e-commerce portal Luxehues.com.
To give outfits a contemporary touch, Debarun has created a diffusion to light bridal collection. “Colours are warm and rich. The royal touch can be seen from the use of warm colours like royal blue, emerald green and black which I have used. Embroidery has been done by combining zardozi with mal. I have give a twist with surface texturing. Also, hand block printing and geometry make the outfits look avant garde. It takes limited amount of weave but gives khadi a new kind of look which is far away from the serious, brooding appearance.”
Since the handspun and handwoven cloth is fragile, it must have been a challenging task to do work on it.
“In this collection, I have used all kinds of khadi, the coarser variety from Rajasthan and softer variant from Pochampally. So khadi from across the country was procured and then I worked on them. I discovered that doing embroidery, dyeing, surface texturing on the handspun cloth is not a long laborious process. Of course, some khadi is coarse; so I have tried to transform it into glamorous, sleek and it has been made to look like an occasional evening wear.”
