Fashion is civil, yet disobedient. This is the tagline for actor Kamal Haasan’s new label KH House of Khaddar that launches on November 15.
“Sir [Kamal] came up with this line in 30 seconds, while he was getting ready for the shoot of the label’s fashion film that will go live on the day of the launch,” says costume designer Amritha Ram who has joined Kamal’s latest venture as the designer. The label, as the name suggests, works purely with khadi.
Amritha has been associated with the iconic actor for four years now, creating looks for his promotions of Vishwaroopam 2 , Bigg Boss Tamil and his upcoming film Indian 2 .
While shooting for the last season of Bigg Boss , she was stuck in Hyderabad and decided to take a quick tour to see what the weavers in the nearby areas were working on. In Chittoor, she came across a fabric in white that she instantly fell in love with. She then dyed it ombre and showed it to Kamal who liked it too. When informed that the fabric was khadi, he suggested creating a few more outfits out of it. The actor has had a long association with khadi as his father, a lawyer, wore only this fabric to court.
The first collection will launch in Chicago (where Kamal will also be launching a new fragrance: KH Memoir). Titled Nunool , meaning the good thread, it is also a message to turn towards a sustainable ecosystem.
The fall-winter collection features skirts, short dresses, trenches and trousers for women; and crop jackets, double breasted jackets, short and long trenches for men. “It’s a complete fall palate with hues such as root beer brown, salmon pink, teal blue, mustard, charcoal grey,” says Amritha adding that they wanted a western take on this quintessentially Indian fabric, which they achieved with the cuts and patterns. “We are not doing any Indian designs or cuts for the first three collections,” she says.
Sometimes synonymous with clothes that are boring, KH House of Khaddar aims to dispense such myths associated with khadi. “It is a versatile fabric and can be tweaked in any way. It can keep you warm in winter and cool in summer,” says Amritha.
The team at KH House of Khaddar is pleased that their venture will benefit weavers. Currently working with a few clusters in Chittoor, Kanchipuram, and Tirupur, Amritha is researching for independent clusters to work with in the near future. “The first vision is to have weavers under our roof and create different variations in the weave in the next six to eight months,” she says. While Amritha has a free hand in the creative process, Kamal gives his inputs. “He likes to keep the design simple so the threads can speak for themselves. Nothing over the top.”
The collections will be available online on www.khhk.in, which will go live shortly.
