The city on fabricKnown for merging tradition with millennial sensibilities, Rawal’s upcoming showcase is a multifunctional collection expressing an individualistic style that is highly angle driven. The shape of tetra-pods is very exciting to me; hence the, Y-Salli, when done in a certain way on the fabric, gives you the tetra-pod shape.“I am super greedy and I have a lot to show so there is never one storyline to my designs. For fashion designer Kunal Rawal, his home city Mumbai – he was born and brought up in – is his biggest source of inspiration. You interact with so many different worlds existing at one arm distance from you.

The glimpses of his inspirations can be seen in the form of cuts and patterns over the traditional wear, embroidery with texture play and the combination of digital prints with embroidery. The Mum motif comes into a print, which goes into the surface, then into heavy embroidery eventually taking its variation, either with a Mumbai arrow or Mumbai knots. The wholesale east longitude group designer will be paying tribute to the maximum city at the upcoming Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) through his collection Rousing showcashing 70 looks. Once you step in the sun the colour of the fabric will change,” beams the designer who will be showcasing the collection against the backdrop of The Asiatic Library. Now when I look back, without realising a lot my inspiration over the years has been from Mumbai,” he concludes. We are blowing up and going into some of our motifs and graphics, showing people the detailing that goes into it,” reveals the fashion designer.

I love manipulating with the fabrics and techniques,” he adds. “We create detailed all-white outfits with motifs and design and colour change.“The motifs are inspired by the things we see around. The combination will make the looks exciting,” he lists. While Y Salli is inspired from the tetra-pods at Marine Drive, Mum comes from Mumbai. In fact, the street style that the designer encounters daily around MIDC in Andheri has also inspired his collection. I work on multiple stories and concepts, which I then mix and match. For someone like me, the designs are always a combination of voice of the label—what we want to put out for the season—usability and the market we are catering to.The motifs, for the deisgner, at the same time, also define the space limitations that Mumbaikars live in. Everything is so tight, which in turn opens your mind to a varied perspective,” smiles Rawal.

“Power of textile is the reason I got into fashion in the first place. “This city, it’s people and the energy, has always encouraged me from the word go, be it professionally or personally,” says Rawal.Merging his expertise of manipulating the fabric by layer on layer, Rawal with this collection will be introducing the concept of photosensitivity on apparel.A fusion of ideal summer festive, the collection will also be presenting motifs like Y Salli, MUM motif and arrow embroidery celebrating the spirit of Mumbai.Changing the gameThe collection boasting of cuts, patterns and contemprory take on traditional wear, has been conceptulised keeping in mind the cross-cultural influecne. “I am bringing lot more pastels, brown as it works for any skin type, pink, greens, dark wine, lemon, fresher yellow and a lot of butter which is a new addition to vanilla, charcoal, and a bunch of blues.“It is beautiful. A lot of it has come from how people put things together here and the beauty is there is so much variety in people and headspaces,” he says.Along with his collection for the fashion week, Rawal —an alumnus of LFW’s Gen Next Programme— will also be re-creating his first show for the programme.“I am adding elements of my journey into my creations. The designer will be paying tribute to the maximum city at the upcoming Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) through his collection Rousing showcashing 70 looks. “This lack of space in the city has also inspired me..With new silhouette, motifs and modern take on booti work, the designer for this season have introduced colours that he was never confident of. That usually makes my collection, “ he explains.Fashion designer Kunal Rawal’s upcoming collection at Lakme Fashion Week is a tribute to the city of dreams

Garments that mirror the latest fashion trends, often manufactured using quick and inexpensive means, are disposed of as soon as the trend fades away, leading to a lot of waste. You appreciate things a lot more when you know the effort that has gone into making them,” smiles Fiona, who will be conducting this workshop. I like the work very much. She says, “I never worked before this.”While they may be concentrating on sustainable clothing, the enterprise will also be teaching journal-making at the exhibition. “We wanted to generate work for the villagers, especially women, because they need it. The co-founder emphasises that the focus of the exhibition is to offer patrons garments that are sustainable, so that they get a chance to reduce their carbon footprint.Asked if adhering to their philosophy of ‘handmade, well-made and long-lasting’, they will be creating goods apart from garments, Fiona says, “We want to create work.

So wherever we can use handmade fabric stitching and imagination, we will experiment.And the pure-khadi outfits have been dyed in natural colours.”— From May 3 to 5, At Artisans’ Gallery, Kala Ghoda.The same feeling is echoed by Usha, who performs quality checks on the garments. The handloom fabric used by us comes directly from weavers in Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan and Gujarat.” Talking about the enterprise’s pledge to create sustainable fashion, Fiona says, “We try really hard to throw nothing out. We have about 80 women who work with us.Thirty-one-year-old Manju Devi, who has been stitching garments for the past two years, feels empowered with the work.While this phenomenon helps us stay fashion-forward, it causes the environment to suffer serious setbacks.The enterprise’s first independent exhibition in the city, Keepers, has been formulated on the idea to produce designs using organic fibres and garments that will be seen as lasting pieces and are for keeps. And 20 locals working in our workshop in Pushkar,” says Fiona. “I like the work here. To stymie the damage, some in the industry have started pursuing the ‘slow fashion’ movement to try to minimise the damage to the environment. The job helps me make money and has also given employment to 40-50 women from my village.

“It’s nice to make things yourself. Working on similar lines is The Stitching Project, a Rajasthan-based social enterprise that gives you a chance to not just view such creations, but purchase them as well.Fiona Wright, co-founder of The Stitching Project, says the exhibition will have on display clothes that have been hand-spun and designed by local women from Rajasthan. To please the style conscious, fashion retailers often stock up on ‘fast fashion collections’. The workshop will help participants’ fashion their own journals using recycled paper and strips of old fabric. I know we are in a terrible industry, but we try very hard to step as lightly as we can. Here today, gone tomorrow; this phrase sums up quite accurately the way fashion trends swirl within our consciousness.A Rajasthan-based social enterprise is organising its first independant exhibition featuring handspun garments created from organic materials. While this phenomenon helps us stay fashion-forward, it causes the environment to suffer serious setbacks. As much as faux fur fabric manufacturers I have gained self-confidence with this work, I think it is important that we use organic clothing,” says Manju