Delhi-based designer Karan Torani is known for his evocative collections — be it Rasiya inspired by Kamasutra or Sindhi Tent House themed on 90s Indian weddings and more. This time, the designer who is allured by mythology, folklore, and fabled past brings yet another collection titled Mithyaa themed around the seven sins — Krodha (wrath), Isharya (envy), Moha (greed), Alasya (sloth), Abhimaan (vanity), Lobh (gluttony) and Vasana (lust) mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The edit’s ensembles also spotted on leading ladies like Deepika Padukone — are glorious Indian wear like saris, kurta sets, free-styled kaftans paired with straight-cut pants and yoke shirts embellished with rich embroideries like dori, sequin, aari, gota, booti and adda work on luxe fabrics like silk organza, cotton voile, crepe and Chanderi.
We speak to the designer on its theme which is an odyssey into the Indian antiquated past, “Hindu scriptures make no mention of the original sin. There is no talk of fall or redemption. Then why do the lawmakers of our society describe temptations to be veiled and shrews to be tamed? Our campaign Mithyaa seeks the answer in sacred stories — of goddesses who strike children with fever, nymphs who seduce sages, celestial virgins who run free in forests and chaste wives who fling themselves on funeral pyres to become guardians of feminine virtue.”
Karan’s creative audacious dive into the mythical concepts is to portray the idea of Indian beauty that differs from the Western concept. Elaborating on the same, he tells us, “The reason for choosing Indian stories is very important because over a period of time, the idea of Westernised form of storytelling has influenced our thought so much that we believe whatever the modern era has taught us is the only truth. So I portray the idea of seven sacred sins as it is an Indian concept. It questions whether these are really sins or delights that are part of our personality and make us ‘whole’.”
The collection rightly probes into the idea of sins where models draped in red ensembles express each vice in a visually arresting body language. They portray an epitome of Shringar Ras which he believes is part of a woman’s narrative whether or not she uses it. “Shringar is used to attract beauty or seduce or to express pride, agony and even wrath. For instance, in Hindu mythology, Kali wears a garland of skulls, smears blood on her face and puts her tongue out. That’s a different kind of beauty if you choose to acknowledge its wide scope. Sometimes, choosing to stay away from Shringara is a form of a statement which Kaikeyi made in Ramayana when she went to Kopa Bhawan to show her anger towards King Dashratha and thereby rejected Shingar,” he tells us on the eclectic definitions of Shringar. He has robustly explored Shringar with a red colour palette of ensembles and adornments like aaltaa, kumkum (vermillion) and bindi. Red is often associated with goddesses, blood, the colour of the earth before the rains, a hue of life, death and fertility.
For Karan, it’s symbolic of power and represents the complete cycle of life. He tells us, “With Mithyaa, the idea was to explore this colour’s omnipresence throughout every bhava and rasa; as well as to eliminate the idea that you can only wear red as a bride. One can celebrate this colour in every age, shape, size, gender and life stage.” Rightly so, the collection is worn by a diverse range of models — from mythologist and sex educator Seema Anand depicting goddess Lakshmi in an organza silk sari embroidered with doria work, young content creator Dolly Singh embodying the sin of sloth in a silk velvet sari to even gender fluid and plus size models featuring in the collection’s campaign.
But Karan articulately tells us that taking diverse models is not to fetch any token brownie points as an inclusive designer. He explains to us, “I take models that truly depict the idea. Tomorrow, I may do a story which only requires women of 60+ age or only gender-fluid models; it totally depends on the theme. For Mithyaa, I needed a variation between models to portray different sins. And since every sin is unique, we needed different personalities to justify its meaning.” With such a grand edit, he shows how Indian stories are more layered, interrogative in character, relevant and classic even today.
Rs.33,000 upwards. Available online and in-store
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