Text Credit: Shibul Pavithran     

Kochi: Top designers and fashion experts came together for the most awaited India Fashion Summit. The president for the event was Vinod Nair and the advisor was Arun Balachandran, who are the brains behind bringing this great event to Kochi.  Important personalities from the world of fashion, entertainment, and Kerala government were present at the occasion.

The affair began with Vinod giving the introduction about the event and talking about the need to change the current fashion approach in the country by making it more sustainable. It was followed by the lamp lighting ceremony by all the esteemed guests.

It was followed by an inaugural speech given by Tom Jose IAS,  succeeded by the first discussion of the day with Anil Chopra, Founder of Lakme Fashion Week and former CEO of Lakme Lever Limited, Neena Haridas, Editorial Director, L’Officiel Magazine India and Vinod about the relevance of Sustainable Fashion and Role of Media.

The next session was with Wendell Rodricks, one of India’s leading fashion designers, where he spoke about the Kunbi Sari: Hand Woven Cottons with Natural Dyes. It was about the historical sari worn by Goan tribal ladies and others. He spoke about the importance of bringing back the traditional attire of Goa and also modernising and customising it.

Peter D’Ascoli – Fashion, Textile, and Interior designer from USA – talked about the richness of textile and designs. He spoke about the historical approach to the fabrics, from the time of independence (the encouragement and drive to use Indian textiles) to the present generation.

The subsequent session was with major giants of the fashion industry, namely Arjun Khanna, couturier and fashion designer; Narendra Kumar, designer and creative director for Amazon; Suket Dhir, fashion designer and exporter; and Nihal Rajan, Vice president and head of design – MFB, Myntra designs with Vinod where they had a conversation about designer fashion retail and hand-made creations. 

The next session was about the Promotion of Kerala handloom through designer creations, with Abraham Tharakan Group Editor and CEO, FWD Media talking to famous fashion designers from Kerala – Alan Kaleekal, Jebin Johny, and Hari Anand.

 This next session was the most awaited occasion of the day. It was the conversation between Vinod and Manish Malhotra, celebrity fashion designer. The venue erupted with excitement as Manish entered the area and there was an eagerness to catch a glimpse of him and hear him talking. 

The last session consisted of many speakers from various disciplines discussing the academic reflections in the field of fashion, like the relevance of design education in the country, design and skilling, branding design education and the role of design education in the revival of Indian textile. The panel had eminent personalities from their respective disciplines namely: Tom Jose, (IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Labour and skills and water Resources) Girish P.T, (Executive Director, Kerala State Institute Of Design)  Dr Toolika Gupta, (Director, Indian Institute Of Craft And Design) Prof. G V Sreekumar, (Head, Industrial Design Centre (IDC, IIT Mumbai), Prof. Krishna Amin Patel (Head, National Institute Of Design (NID), Gandhinagar campus).

Finally, all the speakers lined up together marking the official launch of India Fashion Incubator and valedictory function. It ended with a vote of thanks by Dr Sriram Venkitraman (IAS, MD, Kerala Academy For Skills Excellence(KASE)).

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A line is art and his clothes are constructed with a line of thought. Hari Anand, the designer who makes us enjoy fashion as an art. It’s refreshing that he goes beyond the cliché as a person who sees design as a passion. Every single element from the architecture of his home to his showroom are aligned, it’s no surprise in the 20 years of fashion he hasn’t fallen out of the line. It’s already known that he’s needled his way through the haystack of Kochi’s conventional fashion sense. In this era of mushrooming designers, he has time traveled through twenty years and made Glada stand out as a landmark that was always eyed by the teenagers of Convent road.
Design or Stitch, the studio has the charm of being enclosed in black walls, a kaleidoscope of sequins, a few fringes here and there, and fresh textiles sprawled in his studio like paint on an easel. His fashion show is somewhere around the corner, and there’s a bustle with telephone calls, he’s busy with sketches as the clothes measurements are under scrutiny. He finally settles with some black coffee. The sunlight streams in, and a conversation unfolds.

THE IDEALS OF DESIGN

It doesn’t take a long time to understand that he’s riding with the reigns of his fashion ideologies. Unlike galloping into fads, he’s always been loyal to minimalism. This concept was embraced earlier by a club of intellectuals, the French and Italians with the exception of their wedding trousseau. But now he yearns for it to become a lifestyle choice and work its way as an equilateral movement. He added, “With minimalism there’s a high energy level because it has volumes to say although there’s only a little that seems to be expressed.” On the contrary, people try to communicate with excessive ornamentation and florid make up. It would be a revelation in his world of fashion to see the city of Kochi embrace pastel shades, monochromes and subtle motifs. Such a concept seems far-fetched- especially when color and intricacy is an integral part of our culture .Then he showed a mauve georgette sari with dusky gold lines, it was elegance personified.

In his eyes, fashion evolves as his style stays timeless. So how does he exactly make a different cut on minimalism?

“Fashion is the interpretation of art, and if you interpret art, you’ll need detailing.” The complexity of simplicity lies in trying to bare oneself. While going through his collection at Glada, even a button goes unturned. From the coats with large rounded buttons to coordinated graphic designed buttons on a rusted fan themed shirt, from the pleated sarees to double plallusarees , it constantly resonates his quintessential style. ” If you see a design it’s not a design you should feel it just like the wind.”

The conversation slowly strayed into philosophy and his sources of inspiration. He slowly laughs, isn’t art imitates life a little too much of truism? Like Aristotle refused to deny so did he, saying that nature has all the charm. In his new collection Nirvana, he’s hinted his inspiration and it would have crossed our eyes. From trucks carrying iron to the tangled electricity wires, his new collection has a few elements of surprise such as safety pins and torn edges. Guided by the gradient color of the earth he’s settling for a nude color palette. It’s to focus more on the state of mind. A very tabula rasa approach, his new collection is set to take the next step of its evolution.

WOVEN TALES

He hasn’t revealed all the details of his next collection, Nirvana, but there was enough of art to surprise me while surfing through the studio. It takes a little observation to spot a few pieces here and there, and one cannot resist the Glada cover bags and the portfolio etched with so many witty love advises. One of them was, “Between love affairs there’s chocolate.” The creatives of his cover bags were inspired by the sixties optical illusion art of Bridget Riley. There’s a story behind half of his inspirations and it’s an irony that the woven tales are unknown. For the Sex and the City Collection, he had collaboration with Patti Stern a famous illustrator of New York. After the quirkiest 40, 000 interviews, she calligraphically sketched the funniest love quotes and factors in the post -it note style. All of these were dappled in colors and printed on textiles and it finally brimmed with life in his collection, Glamo.

Observation is one of his greatest strengths, as simple as the fallen wilted leaf to the view of rice paddies from his balcony is enough to get his minds twirling. He says, “I enjoy the dark as I get to see those stars lucidly and I love to write on white board with white paint. The key is to stand out, and as all of us may be dazed with his statement, he slowly chuckled and continued, “Make a statement with texture!” If it’s enough to leave a mark in the fashion world, he’s designed clothes with his finger print and customizes clothes with yours too.

IN LINE WITH THOUGHTS
Promoting fashion philosophy, he’s coined many quotes to share among his followers. “It’s not an exclusive club for intellectuals but an egalitarian popular movement, the most wide reaching movement. Think minimalist, think precise”. Thus, getting into the discussion of every aesthetician, the philosophy of form and content. He stressed that the form is as pivotal as German engineering. As it’s translated into efficiency in his interpretation of fashion, it lies in functionality. For example creating Indian clothes, like a coat that’s still functional in New York. “Content is not necessarily having words and images sprawled over textiles. Every apparel has an aura and that’s what makes a statement. He believes clothes are not meant to say look at me but look at that. This ideology is what inspired him to start an image consultancy and the script for a wedding gown. Before a wedding dress is designed factors such as location, time, weather, jewellery revolve around a gown. He says women these days must know what they want to wear and believe a design is cut out for them and not copy another trend. He hit the point when he said, “Your clients are individuals, if you are in prison of others, you’ll never find something new.”

Kochi is buzzing as a city and the upcoming metro is the allure of a coveted metropolitan charm. The fashion progression is still shadowed, as he says “Kochi is growing individually and not collectively.” Many are still pressed by social taboos and he aptly quoted “It’s fashion for some, an art for the chosen few. For us it’s civilization.” Kochi is getting there, yet it’s taking slow steps.
From a stroll to the studio, to the showroom and a ride to his house, you can’t help it and realize it’s all structured to reflect his notion of minimalism. The detailed lines of his sketches finally tell you a story that clothes are beyond needle and thread. It’s not about the glamorous fashion shows but design is truly a way of life. As we sat in his home and looked through the myriads of sketches, you cannot deny he does not live to design but lives in design. As everyone lives a life of ups and downs, Hari Anand lives through the thick and thin lines.

Quickies
Ultimate style icon : Nehru
Hollywood character: officer and gentleman
Iconic Bollywood: Amitabh Bachchan
A western staple: Jacket
A trend that you love :color
Metallic or neon : none
Coffe or black : black

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