India a country of living crafts, textiles: Designer Anavila Misra

By Nivedita

Gandhinagar, June 29 (IANS) Designer Anavila Misra, who is going to showcase her textile driven collection at Textiles India 2017 to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Friday, says that textile has been a part of Indian culture, and exploring the same to give it contemporary everyday silhouettes has given it a new meaning.

"India is a country of living crafts and textiles. We have textiles deeply woven into our social and cultural fabric, though they have been always a part of Indian fashion but the exploration of the same for contemporary everyday silhouettes have lent them a fresh lease," Misra, who can't wait to show her collection amongst renowned names from the fashion industry, politics and other spheres of life, told IANS here.

Talking about her collection, she said she has worked with pure handwoven linen from West Bengal with various textures and details using jari in parts with differentiated modern blouses.

"This capsule collection of four saris is a representation of the evolution of our brand with the Bengal weavers over time. The linen saris are teamed with varied textures and techniques coupled with smart and easy blouses. The zari jamdani is playful and festive at the same time.

"The colour-story follows rich ivory, ecru and beige in plain weaves, jamdani, plaids and yarn-dyed looks," said the designer whose designs were appreciated by actress Konkona Sen Sharma, singer Shubha Mudgal, actors Priyanka Bose, Rani Mukerji, Deepti Naval, Kajol and Vidya Balan.

The designer is going to showcase another show on Saturday.

"It is a representation of our intervention in the Gadwal cluster near Hyderabad. Here we have mixed Gadwal weaving with Pochampally and completely turned around the look by using clean monochromatic colours," she said.

She feels that platforms like Textiles India 2017 are helpful in many ways.

"In my view, this will widen the horizon and give a new landscape to various stakeholders who will come under one big umbrella and forge meaningful interactions. It has bridged the gap between designers, weavers and government by bringing them together at such a huge platform, exposing them to each others work and challenges, creating opportunities for collaborations," she told IANS.

Her mission is to make textiles more accessible by making them contemporary, easy and approachable and also by simplifying them.

She also feels that "with designers trying to bring textiles to the mainstream fashion, people are interacting and understanding textiles better" and this according to her, is making a huge impact.

Textiles India is an annual event with the objective to connect and collaborate with global manufacturers, investors and buyers. It is positioned as the first ever global B2B textiles event in India, bringing to the fore the inspiring vision of the PM - "From Farm to Fibre, Fibre to Factory, Factory to Fashion, Fashion to Foreign Exports".

Textiles India will showcase the strength of the value chain in India. The event will witness the presence of Smriti Irani, Minister of Textiles, and Ajay Tamta, Minister of State for Textiles.

As part of the exhibition, there will be two shows that are curated and produced by IMG Reliance Industries Ltd.

The first one is Evolution of Textiles of India and the vision of the show is to present a compelling story of the Textiles of India, focussing on innovations in craft and design. It is said to be the largest curated presentation of Indian textiles on the runway that will unfold the story of growth and development of the Indian textiles sector and its transformation to become a global power.

The show will feature looks from a combination of established and emerging designers and master craftsmen/weavers from across different textile traditions, languages and states of India. There are 30 designers participating in the show including Anamika Khanna, Anita Dongre, Manish Malhotra, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Tarun Tahiliani.

Another show is the Indian Handloom Show and the vision of the show is to present a story of the India Handloom brand initiative launched by Modi on National Handloom Day in 2015.

This initiative by the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, focuses on branding of high quality and defect-free niche handloom products with minimal impact on environment, increasing the earnings of the weavers and other stakeholders of the handloom industry and generating a special market space for handloom products.

The show will feature looks each from a combination of designers and labels from across India.

There is also a panel discussion being organised by IMG Reliance with support from the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India at Textiles India 2017 and the topic is: How Can Indian Handlooms & Handicrafts Create a Sustainable Economy in the Fashion Industry?

The panel members include Manoj Jain, Director, Development Commissioner (Handlooms), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India representing Ministry of Textiles and their initiatives on handlooms and fashion, Susanne Goetz- Associate Professor, Department of Textile and Surface Design Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.

(The writer's trip is at the invitation of IMG Reliance. Nivedita can be contacted at nivedita.s@ians.in)