Designer Swati Vijaivargie finds inspiration from textiles around the world - be it her work with Mexican Otomi embroidery in her 2016 collection Love for Stripes or her 2019 Winter Festive line that collection takes its cue from Turkish embroidered textiles. The Jaipur-based designer, known for her work with bold prints and motifs, says that all her collections have something in common.
“My collections are never completely different from each other. The previous style evolves to become a new one. That is something we are consciously doing. Although there are different elements incorporated in each of them, there will always be a common vibe that binds them together.”
Titled Morbagh (which means peacock garden in Hindi), the Winter Festive line, according to her, is an amalgamation of Indian floral, bird motifs with colours and textures taken from antique Turkish textiles.
“I have always taken inspiration from different types of textiles around the world and Indianised it for my collection. For instance, Love for Stripes, the collection I showcased at LFW, featured Mexican Otomi embroidered textiles which use a lot of flowers and birds. So to Indianise it, we brought in Indian birds and animals like elephants and peacocks. Here, I have combined Turkish embroidery with the peacock gardens of India. What intrigued me about Turkish textiles is the way the colours have been used, the patterns, their use of silks and hand embroidery, and mostly the usage of gold,” says the 40-year-old NIFT graduate, who after working with labels such as Raghuvendra Rathore and Kavita Bhartia, started her label- Rang by Swati Vijaivargie in 2010.
Comprising roughly 45 pieces, the collection features peplum tops, capes, jackets, asymmetrical dresses, saris, skirts, kurtas and lehengas. The colour palette for the line predominantly being ivory and teal with shades of red and indigo, the pieces are done in Banarsi silk, chanderi, linen, satin, cotton silk as well as fine khadi mulmul. Apart from using hand block and screen printed materials featuring resham, gota and marodi embroidery, additional elements like twisted patwa strings, hand-made tassels, buttons and textures are also used to enhance the ensembles.
“When you look at the embroidery details, especially the motifs, you can see there’s the usage of at least eight to 10 colours. There’s also a mix of materials and textures. Although the collection is dominated by blue, we have brought in Indian colours such as reds and gold in the form of tassels and embroidery and other small detailing,” shares Swati.
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