world in India, there are but a handful
of designers who can be called the
disruptors and Kallol Datta with his
motifs that are inspired by foetuses,
bones, cascading sperms and eccentric
silhouettes is truly one of them.
The designer isn’t here to explain
why he splattered a dress with shoes
as motifs. He is almost always in hid-
ing and lives in Kolkata, where he
can be away from the glitzy world of
fashion and its politics. “My genera-
tion of designers who started making
clothes 10 years ago brought in a new
perspective. Since I work hermetically
and yet have a certain influence over
the younger generation I am seen as a
disruptor,” he says.
A graduate from NIFT Kolkata,
Datta went to Central St. Martin’s in
London before returning home. And
now, leading the charge once again, he
is collaborating with artists to blur the
line between fashion and art. A glazed
plastic sheet is draped on a model in
one of this latest campaigns. It is a con-
tinuation of his Random Access show
at the Experimenter Gallery in Kolkata
in 2017 where he added a layer of plas-
tic film on to silk and cotton to alter the
design of things. Datta, who has defied
fashion norms with his silhouettes, is
no stranger to recycling and his fabrics
have often been reclaimed. In this new
campaign, 24 sculptural figures made
of bamboo were draped in gender
neutral clothing made using cotton,
silk and plastic film. From a distance
they resembled garbage bags as the
artist used tools of subversion to chal-
lenge existing notions of beauty.
Datta remains one of India’s most
conceptual designers and is always
looking to hone his skill set. Having
moved on from creating just clothes,
the designer is now working on
installations because “they are non-
interactive in a sense”. Bold enough to
go against the tide, his label is about
breaking the mould and redefining
what passes as design.MERGING
WORLDS
(Left) Kallol Datta
is blurring the lines
of fashion and art;
(below) the ‘garbage
bag’ saree