A model wearing gold Kinnaur’s ornament on her face which was carved in Urdu was Persian inspiration for Samanth Chauhan's ‘Kinnaur Queen’ collection.
Samant's show was inspired by Alexander's life and the Indo-Greek culture that still prevails in Uttarakhand. The silhouettes were from old school following the way of intricate embroidery heavily influenced by Persian architecture and designs. “We have taken silhouettes that were worn by people of that era. The story that I am talking about is of 350 years ago," shared he.
The collection drew inspiration from many centuries of intense and Indo-Greek cultural exchange. It was inspired by the historic encounter of Alexander with Porus on the banks of river Hydaspes, now known as Jhelum. It captured the deep impact of Alexander's marital ties with Kinnauron, the lifestyle and culture of the people in the region.
The fabric was mainly handwoven silk linens and cotton silk, with a few Bhagalpuri silk drapes. As we know that Chauhan is not fond of colours and this time too has played with his favourite off-white. There were also a good amount of embroidery and zari work.
“We don’t encourage colour because in my village, even today we don’t have the right processor to process the colour and I have always believed that my fabric looks perfect in its natural form,” shared the designer who had used a lot of organic colours.
The Grecian gowns were given cuts from the end of the thigh and the skirts were given a voluminous wavy look. “I have heavily used zardozi hand woven on silk and linen to give the contemporary look. For the cuts, we have gone with a lot of layering. For the silhouettes , we have preferred simple ready to wear clothes.”
lot of flairs, off-whites can be a new trend this spring/summer, added the designer. It took me six months to complete this collection. When we asked the designer about the market that he looking at, he shared, "Sixty percent of our clients are from middle east and so that is huge market that we are focussing on." He told us that 60 per cent of his buyers are from the Middle-East.
photos by Pankaj Kumar