TEXTILE ALCHEMY(Clockwise from top) An image
from the Grassroot Spring
2018 campaign; Anita Dongre;
embroidery details.(Far left) Catwalk
looks from Bloni.
(From top) Bloni
products made
using Econyl.Bazaar
STYLE
Eco-friendly fabrics are cementing their place in
fashion. Take Econyl, a type of nylon manufactured
from recycled fishing nets that brands like Stella
McCartney and Adidas have used to make everything
from swimwear to accessories. At Lakmé Fashion Week
Summer/Resort 2018, designer Akshat Bansal worked
with Econyl to create a line of staples like polo neck
jumpers, straight-cut trousers, and androgynous tunics
for his label Bloni. Bansal’s collection was an homage to
the dying seas and so working with the new textile
made perfect sense. “It was a challenge to use Econyl
because it’s unusual to blend this kind of stretch knit
fibre with more woven fabrics like cotton or silk,” says
Bansal. “Yet as a designer it’s my responsibility to create
awareness and keep evolving.”CRAFT TRAIL
FA SH ION NE WS
Bakutra is a village 200 kms north of Ahmedabad
that Anita Dongre finds herself revisiting often.
An arid landscape, mud houses, women in garments
shimmering with mirrorwork, sitting in the yard and
embroidering—this is where a Grassroot dress is
created. In 2015, when Dongre launched her label,
Grassroot by Anita Dongre, she joined hands with
SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association), which,
since its inception in 1972, has brought employment
to thousands of craftspeople countrywide.
Gauriben is one of the 800 women of SEWA who
has found a new business partner in Dongre. “Earlier
I used to be known as someone’s mother, daughter
or wife. Today the village knows me as Gauriben,” she
says with pride. Soft cotton mul, handwoven in
Benaras, is sent to Bakutra, where Gauriben and her
team bring alive Dongre’s designs.
Birds, bees, and botanicals on a pastel colourscape—
it’s a change from their own deeply pigmented palette.
But in time they’ve adapted to the urban taste for
muted hues. “Since I’ve been embroidering, life has
changed. Children are being educated, we eat three
meals a day, we’re claiming back our pawned away
properties, and, if I’m working, my husband helps in the
kitchen,” says Gauriben. It is all of this, and more, that
goes into the making of a Grassroot creation.What to shop and where to go this month