Textured Tales : My visit to a Wonderland of clothes

-


What happens when you do not belong to the world of Fashion and are invited to a fashion soiree? You are looking forward to see the high frat strutting their stuff and loads of air kissing. Well, this one was something with a difference. The designer called every individual on her guest list, personally. No event management company handling the invites from a list of potential customers. This was the place with a difference. Just like the designer’s clothes, this invite to have a cuppa and have a dekho at her new line of summer wear. I never had any thoughts about which dress to wear to the event because from the call I knew, this is like going to a friend’s house and spending time in her drawing room just catching up, as the day passed by with its different hues.

I wanted to be at the store early to be able to go through the clothes and leave soon before the clients start walking in and trying clothes. I did not want to hang around after I had bought something. The idea of tea was so refreshing compared to the wine and champagne evenings. I could smell the fresh Mogra flowers as soon as I entered the building. The old post box was newly painted with the name and the logo of the designer in the thread motif. The ride up the  rickety elevator  opened to a wall covered with Gobar, mitti and wheat husk. It added an interesting texture to it and the oil diyas in the traditional pital samai set the mood. There was Indian classical music wafting in. The Mogra strings were loosely hung at the entrance and the door was partially open. I could not help but remove my footwear outside. There was a divine feel to the whole place. I gingerly opened the door and nothing can describe the visual treat I got. Early morning sun, all windows open, racks of beautifully coloured garments against all walls. The mango tree outside and the sun throwing lovely light on the clothes. The studio looked well nourished. Fans running over the just mopped mosaic floor and comfortable well worn sofas to sit. Glad not to see anything artificial in the space.

The woven fabrics of a variety of colours, textures, weaves and designs, made me experience a deep pride in the skill of our Indian craftsmen. Vaishali physically drives to these villages to the weavers. She lives and works closely with them. Every garment or saree out there shows the passion of her creation. She knows what threads she has used in them and how it is woven. And the beauty is not just in the fabrics but also in the cuts of each garment. To say, each one is unique may sound a bit clichéd, but it truly is. The flow of the fabric is like what is worn in different parts of India. And the look is totally modern. I am someone who is not fond of fusion food. I feel it is okay for an experience but it can never be satisfying like a meal. Vaishali’s clothes are rooted in India and very modern. They can be worn with or without an occasion. The beauty is in the cut and the flow of the finely woven fabric.


I am no Fashionista. I was thinking that the model brigade would be like how I have seen in films and books. Once again I was proven wrong. Really genuine people walked in and had a direct relationship with the designer, apart from business. Clients walked in with their children. There were lot of juices and home baked cookies, which children like. Everyone was comfortable as we would be in a close friend’s house.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nange Paon in Navratri

-
When I was working and staying in the hostel, I kind of stopped believing in most festivals and rituals. I thought all this was some weird things which people did, it had no scientific base and why should I follow anyone. In the college hostel, vacations were time to go home and not connected with any festival except Diwali. Sophia College hostel was a cocoon in the heart of South Mumbai. The campus with an old palace building was a quiet oasis with trees and birds, in the mayhem of Mumbai. No festival touched it unless the college celebrated it. The Polytechnic had rock shows and one Dandiya night every year, which it soon stopped having by 1988. Only celebration was the Vegetable Biryani in lunch on Sundays. The Polytechnic hostel did not even believe in pampering the children with food. Memories of bread being there round the clock for breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner. For them, while the non vegetarians ate eggs for breakfast, the vegetarian had bread. And then when non vegetaria...
Read more

Shraddh period in Hinduism

-
According to the Hindu calendar, this is the shraddh period going on.  For fifteen days in a year, the ancestors are remembered and prayed to. No auspicious events / ceremonies take place in this time. People use the tithi/date of death to invite a Pandit and feed the departed soul. It means you remember the person passed away, give food to the Pandit and the crows. People keep a cooked meal on the terrace. They try to make the favourite food of the departed person. My memories are of my Grandma mixing and crushing all the savouries with her hands and when it was in form of  a paste, my Uncle would go to the terrace and throw the food for the crows. Crows in Hinduism are considered messengers of the departed souls. A lot of people feed Gathiyas to the crows for the full year. If your ancestors are happy, then your life goes well ,is the general belief amongst Hindus. The shraddh period falls exactly between Ganpati and Navratri. One does not buy a house or have...
Read more

Antakshari

-
Today we were playing antakshari at the Holi get together. We did not know any new songs so naturally only the golden melodies were being sung. The whole generation playing antakshari was singing the similar era songs on the alphabets they got. I realised a couple of things. In English language there is no game like Antakshari. How many sentences end with I or The? How can you sing when most songs start with I, The, Once, When and How?I cannot resist explaining the game, we all grow up with, in India. Antakshari means Ant : end , Akshar: alphabet ie last letter of the word. Akshar also means God. It also means God has the last word. Its a game with two teams and we call the teams as  'party'.  We say "Baithey baithey kya karein, karna hai kuchh kaam, shuru karo antakshari , le ka Hari ka naam." Translated from Hindi, We are sitting idle, lets do some work, lets start antakshari, starting with God's name. In Indian games, there is a lot of religion or belief in Go...
Read more