When I moved to New Delhi by myself, the only thing I was equipped with was the knowledge I had from my late grandfather’s journals from his time as a university student in the same city in the 1940s. The country was fighting for its independence during a world war. The garments started reflecting the struggles of a nation trying to understand

its own cultural identity.

I always remember that while my grandfather was always dressed to the nines in a suit, the shirt was made from the hand spun ‘khadi’ cotton and the jacket was always with the Nehru collar. The bottoms alternated between trousers and the more traditional dhoti. Somehow, this was a perfect blend of the colonial tailoring and traditional draping.

 

The old photographs and memorabilia of his youth inspired me to create a collection with clean lines and an occasional pleat or two. In his times, there was an ideology within the country that no piece of fabric should be thrown away without being used. Scraps were always used for embroidery and patchwork. In the same vein, the small cuts of fabrics that collected over the years were used throughout the collection, be it as patchwork or as a lining, making each article of clothing a one-off piece.

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Embroidered tapes, old silk sarees, a mix and match of woollen flannel plaid and stripes and clean slim silhouettes, this collection is an interpretation of a piece of nostalgic familial history.