Kolkata-based designer Devika Churiwal’s SS’19 collection has a wearable festive vibe
ASSEMBLING AN OCCASION wear wardrobe for the summer is a tricky ordeal; we need numbers which have a festive vibe, interesting and fresh detailing and of course, have a superbly wearable quality. This is exactly how city-based designer Devika Churiwal describes her line-up. The ethnic and fusion wear designer is not just making way for chic and relaxed occasion wear but also uses all-natural fabrics. Her Spring/Summer collection The Festive Kairos features some of the finest handcrafted, statement pieces, which celebrate old world charm and new age sensibilities, and also keeps summer colours in mind. “I have used sheer fabrics and some very distinct colours, which you don’t see very often in summer trousseaus.
Since embroidery has always been my forte, we have featured that in various ways. You will find some very subtle embroidery; we were very aware that it is a summer collection, so we kept the wearability in mind,” Devika tells us. The Festive Kairos features some one-of-a-kind jewel-toned numbers, as well as some cool pastel ensembles. We found some flared full-kurtas, gowns, draped saris, long jackets in georgette, silk chanderi, and other naturally-produced fabrics.
The designer started her roll in 2017, and only launched her flagship store in February this year; in just four and a half months, the designer has acquired quite a stellar clientele, including famous names from Tollywood. “I’ve been getting a really warm response for my flagship from people in the city, though it’s still very new, and some people are yet to discover it. But I think my pieces resonate with what the women of today are looking for; whichever client comes in, we do try to get their feedback on our collections, to understand the city’s fashion milieu and how it works,” Devika reveals.
The NIFT graduate has only been focusing on occasion wear as of now, where her excellent threadwork skills get room to shine. But she reveals people have been vying to see a daily wear line-up from her as well. “I’ve not really made casual wear yet, and that’s not something I want to do. My forte still remains festive wear, but my customers do want to see me doing comfort wear too,” the designers adds.
Churiwal has worked consistently with rebellious silhouettes, but the designer has always stressed on a sense of comfort, even with her most adventurous pieces. Even her most ornate lehengas are toned down in symmetry and colour palette; the designer’s new collection is all about depicting the vivacity of summer blooms. We found some intricately embroidered powder blue, yellow and pistachio numbers, perfect for evening soirees. “Most of my numbers have interesting layers, we don’t keep the silhouettes very complicated so they are easy to wear,” Churiwal informs us. Starts from `25,000, details on the designer’s social media pages.
— Ujjainee Roy