Stepping into Eshaani Jayaswal’s Southern Avenue flagship is like stepping into a millennial Maharani’s ornate dressing chambers. Ecletically lined up pastel lehengas, Disney princess style corsets, applique vintage gowns, 1920s-style ruffled saris, and walls covered with mir rors and drapes — basically, every woman’s fantasy armoire. The designer points out a chic lavender sari teamed with a pearl embellished blouse, aptly named The Maharani.
“Women of royalty would probably wear something like this when they were entertaining guests — it’s classy and relaxed. My new collection, Modern Renaissance, is reminiscent of that aesthetic,” Eshaani tells us, in a meet over finger sandwiches and coffee. Eshaani’s love for applique is well documented, quite globally, in fact. Sonam Kapoor wore one of her applique skirts to the Cannes Film Festival, and Vidya Balan wore her trench dress for Akash Ambani’s wedding festivities at St Moritz. Eshaani’s Spring/Summer collection boasts of some stunning floral and French knot appliques, and also features some fairy tale-inspired kalidars, organza blouses, tiered lehengas and saris.
“Most of my pieces are dramatic but light, because there’s so much running around to do at weddings and events, and women need to be able to feel good. You’ll see that most of my pieces are centred around the waist, so they really taper you down. So, there’s a size-inclusive aspect. We have some high-waisted ghagras and trimming kalidars too,” the NIFT graduate tells us about her collection, “In Kolkata, if people like what you’re making, they’ ll come to you,” offers Eshaani, who started her label in 2009, after working for Shantanu Goenka for a year and a half. “We put a lot of thought into how our creations would appeal to women of all sizes. Women should want to wear my clothes, and come back to me. Even when we’re doing research, we always think, “Oh, this looks great on a model, but would someone who’s a size 10 or 12 be able to pull it off ?”
The designer goes on to reveal that one of her inspirations is the trailblazing designer Manish Arora. Eshaani’s Western wear line, heavily inspired by pop culture figures like Mrs Maisel and Mad Men’s Betty Draper, tells you how versatile the designer is, when it comes to sartorial relevance. She’s also changing the game when it comes to statement festive wear, as she leans towards an urbane, but timeless vibe. “In Kolkata, we’d thought people would only go for brighter, popping colours. But when we did our preview , people were really into the lavender numbers and the pastel palette,” explains Eshaani, showing us an opulent corset-fit lavender blouse in tulle, paired with a handembellished zardosi lehenga skirt.
Prices from Rs 35,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh