Celebrating fashion confluence

Picking up a piece of cloth and creating a visionary design,  by a designer, who too like an artist puts in all the imagination that one has, is a treat for one to witness.  The imagination comes alive and it becomes a proud moment for the artist when he is able to celebrate and showacse his/her collection. Craft revivalist and textile conservationist Madhu Jain hosted an evening to introduce her Spring-Summer collection on Thursday at ‘Ogaan’ in the national Capital.  Maneka Gandhi, Union Cabinet Minister for Women & Child Development, inaugurated the collection. Some of the prominent guests spotted at the event were Designer Poonam Bhagat, Tikka Shatrujit Singh, Ambika Shukla, Neelam Pratap Rudy, Shovana Narayan, Alpana Gujral, Ruchi Malhotra Makhni, and many more.

Madhu, whose formidable reputation has been built on promoting indigenous forms of textile weaving and designs, unveils her vibrant new collection. This time she showcases her brand-new Uzbek-inspired Ikats, alongside a retrospective of her signature Andhra Pradesh and Odisha Ikat styles into which she has infused the Buddhist Mandala design inputs from the textile traditions of Thailand. “My fresh collection showcases a confluence of two cultures—Indian and Uzbek—that share so much in common. Seeing the unifying threads in the traditional weaves of two different regions is something that enthuses and challenges me. I then set about seeing how I can amalgamate the beauty in each to produce a totally new weave that nonetheless stays true to the distinctiveness of the individual cultures. In Andhra, for instance, Ikat fabric is produced on pit looms, and semi-circular frames are used in the preparation of warp and weft. 

The design sensibility leans towards geometricals. In Odisha, on the other hand, Ikat is inspired by temple motifs and also by nature. So, you will notice parrots, flowers, elephants, and deer. And also, Navagunjara, an animal, which is considered to be an incarnation of Vishnu, you will find incorporated in Odisha’s traditional Pattachitra paintings. I took both sets of elements and combined them to come up with contemporary weaves that remain rooted in the traditional forms,” says Madhu.

For this collection, Madhu has worked with master weavers to create a convergence of two distinct styles with a colour palette that is largely influenced by Indigo. Atisha Pratap Singh is the face of Madhu Jain’s Spring-Summer line.