Designers from Kolkata displayed their collection inspired by the textile, crafts and arts from Bengal. S Mallik finds from curator Chikky Goenka, a designer herself, that it was her long standing dream to put Bengal on the fashion map of India
Bengal is known for a lot of things theatre, food, history and yes, handicrafts. And it doesn’t end there. Just like the Banarasi silk is embedded in the craftsmanship of that place, textiles like jamdani, dhakai and tangail are inherent to the state, amongst others.
It was designer Chikky Goenka’s long dream to put Bengal in the fashion map of India. And along with Pooja Roy Yadav, founder and CEO, Nimai, she did exactly that by hosting the first edition of the Travelling Trunk show in Delhi. The two day show displayed works of designers from Kolkata.
“Both Chikky and I have been associated for the past two years where she has hosted the store in Kolkata for various shows. She was always keen to bring together the goodness of ‘Made in Bengal’ label in the form of a Travelling Trunk that went from one city to the other to promote the rich craftsmen of Bengal,” said Yadav.
Goenka added, “I wanted to use my expertise and sensibilities to support and promote designers on a larger platform. Interact with the customers and let them experience the diversity of Bengal fashion.”
Here’s what the designers had to say:
Paromita Banerjee
It was a great experience because the idea was about cohesively showcasing brand Bengal to an audience outside the state. As designers working from Kolkata we retail at multi designer stores across, but it is a different identity when we do this together as a complete story.
We work with weaver clusters from all across India. This collection has two stories. One on textured light silks for evening wear but has very classic silhouettes like the kallidar kurta, capes and bandhgala. We have used upcycled patchwork details as part of another.
Eshaani Jayaswal
We used the expert craftsmanship of the state in the collection that was displayed. The monochrome collection Iron Fairies was inspired from oriental paintings. Enlarged birds and floral appliqués was a twist to the miniature oriental flowers and birds.
This was our first print line for which the first process of developing screens of out artworks needed us to work with the local artisans.
Debashri Samanta
We have taken inspiration from the traditional jamdani of Bengal and made a next-gen version of it in tussar and khadi. The signature motifs are all handwoven and studio engineered. We worked with our own team of weavers in the villages of Bengal.
The collection is all about revisiting and re-interpreting our traditions. We revive the age-old Bengali sensibility with an urbane edge by using studio-handwoven, new-age jamdani motifs. The main motif used are the houses, full meenakari trees with their roots intact, and peacocks. Our collection rightly compliments this philosophy as we go back to nature and back to basics but with the right kind of edge and luxurious global appeal.