Arunachal Pradesh-based couturier Jenjum Gadi’s latest edit pays tribute to the Assamese ‘gamocha’

We spoke to Jenjum Gadi just a few days ahead of his recent show with Blenders Pride Fashion Nights in Guwahati and the designer told us about his upcoming collection that was to be featured at this show. A favourite with quite a few Bollywood celebs including Malaika Arora, Sonakshi Sinha, Arjun Kapoor and Milind Soman, the Arunachal Pradesh-based Galo designer is known for his interesting takes on kurtas, jackets, bandis, shirts, kurta-pajama sets and sherwanis for men; and his occasional eclectic silhouette for women. We caught up with Jenjum, just ahead of the show, to find out more about this new collection, called A Celebration of Life. Excerpts:

Tell us a little about the collection and the inspiration behind it?
After the pandemic, I realised that one really needs to celebrate what they have, and what surrounds them. How we all became so self-dependent, and we realised how much we need to survive — that one can be self-sufficient with only a small amount. Taking inspiration from this, I call my collection A Celebration of Life. This collection is all about me going back to my roots, to where I am from. The pandemic made me realise how far I have come. How my upbringing and my roots have inspired me throughout this journey. You start thinking about that and celebrating that. Sometimes, you don’t notice how important these feelings are and when you don’t have something that is when you realise its importance, and that happened to me.

What’s the colour palette that we can look forward to in this collection?
When you think of the Northeast, it’s really bright and colourful. But, I am doing something totally different from that because we have gone through so much in these past two years, so, I don’t want to make it very loud and colourful. I want to celebrate it in a very subtle, pure and organic way. I have kept the colour palette very muted, just using red and white which is the colour of Assam. We have this Assamese gamocha which is so famous, world famous actually, so I have taken inspiration from that. I am also using lots of black because black represents something dark but also very strong. It shows how we have come out of this crisis — the pandemic, coming out of darkness by staying strong together.

What are the silhouettes and fabrics you have used in the collection?
Keeping the youthfulness of the Northeast in mind, I have kept a street fashion vibe to the collection. It has a lot of jackets and dresses and the likes in raw silks, matka silks and lots of cotton.

What’s up next?
Well, I’ll be associating with Blenders Pride Fashion Nights again, something that’s coming up — a very interesting project that will be out in a little while. And I’ll be designing some uniforms for the Delhi Police again, a very interesting project for the Disaster Management Team, which is a new battalion for them.

INR 5,500 onwards. Available online.

romal@newindianexpress.com
@elromal