Lakme Fashion Week: Meet the Gen Next designers working on sustainable style

Retro cinema, stages of grief and acquired cultures are just some of the inspirations for this all-woman batch of Lakmé Fashion Week’s Gen Next designers

(From left to right) Ujjwala Bhadu, Sunaina Khera, Amrapali Singh and Madhumita Nath are the four Next Gen designers at Lakme Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2019

Every season of Lakmé Fashion Week (LFW) launches a handful of newcomers, supporting them with a mentorship programme. Aided by fashion consultant Sabina Chopra, they are then connected to other designers, store owners, magazine editors and stylists.

Joining the likes of Nachiket Barve, Rahul Mishra and Masaba Gupta in making their debut on the Summer/Resort runway, the 27th batch of Gen Next designers includes Madhumita Nath, Amrapali Singh, Sunaina Khera and Ujjwala Bhadu — four distinct styles that make a diverse programme. While for Khera and Bhadu the designs are woven out of extremely personal experiences, Nath’s work individualises artisanal craft and Singh’s carries an aura of nostalgia.

Ujjwala Bhadu

Her quirky and bright collection is an homage to her home, Jodhpur, and is born from the homesickness she felt at boarding school and while at Parsons, New York. To complement her playful tone, Bhadu, who worked with Bibhu Mohapatra and Oscar de la Renta, uses cotton yarn and viscose, and incorporates a lot of knitwear. “I want to bring light to the fact that knits are comforting, playful, and [flattering],” she stresses.

Inspiration: The 24-year-old’s art, quite simply, is rooted in eliciting joy. The driving force behind her designs is the happiness the idea of home invokes in her. “[It comes from] a sense of looking at home through rose-tinted glasses,” she says. Designs, she explains, come to her from the details surrounding her. “Maybe [just] a window grill.”

Favourite piece: “A striped knit dress. The moment someone wears it, it transforms according to their body. It has such bright, beautiful colours, and it’s like a little bit of a hug!”

Birdwalk

Amrapali Singh works with liza cottons, silks, and chiffons to give her collection, ‘Queen of Hearts’, her signature delicate silhouettes. About her interpretation of a deck of cards, she shares, “I’ve worked on strong blacks and whites, with a little hint of red, a lot of scallops, and unique patchwork on a net. [They are] very graphic, geometric [designs], but are still very feminine.”

Inspiration: “My sense of fashion comes from very classic, feminine and elegant pieces,” shares the 36-year-old, who borrows the delicately-flaring shapes of the ’20s and ’30s western fashion. Trained in Bharatanatyam, Kathak and even some jazz, the Marangoni, Italy, alumna sees both dance and fashion as an expression of her emotions.

Favourite piece: “A white scallop skirt with a patch of black geometric shapes on it. I started out with that piece, so it set the precedent for everything else that was to come.”

Sunaina Khera

With her collection ‘A Long Way Home’, 25-year-old Khera turns her personal grief into artistic expression. Discussing her collection, the NIFT graduate, who interned with Gaurav Gupta in her early days, says, “It starts from blacks and navies, goes into bluish-greys, to softer pinks, and finally ends in ivories. You go through a whole range of moods while experiencing grief — from denial, you end in acceptance.” She uses tulles, silk organza, crêpes and the brand’s signature hand embroidery.

Inspiration: “Whatever I’m feeling [gives birth to] the concept of whatever collection I’m working on. The process is always internal for me, and then I marry the concept with my aesthetics and design sensibilities.”

Favourite piece: “Maybe the finale piece. I’m a sucker for whites! It’s really grand, yet it’s simple.”

Ek Katha

An NID graduate, Madhumita Nath’s focus on sustainable design has resulted in a very particular take on the “happy, feminine, Bohemian look”. Her collection, titled ‘Bliss’, sees her working with natural dyes, Batik block printing and hand-woven kala cotton fabric.

Inspiration: The 40-year-old, who earlier worked with Weavetex and PI Industries, shares that with each collection she hopes to tell the story of the journey of a product. Knowing the environment and the people creating it is a huge part of her process. Her fabric is woven and dyed in Kutch. She gives the craft a contemporary look, even making the indigenous kala cotton significantly softer for her pieces. “My collection doesn’t look Indian at all, but its heart and soul is in Kutch and the rural craft.”

Favourite piece: “A trench coat. All the fabrics of the collection are pieced together [to create] it. It is very versatile, and can be worn over anything. It’s like an accent piece.”

The Gen Next show takes place on the Runway stage, JioGarden, BKC, on January 30, at 1 pm.