The American novelist Herman Melville once said, "There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gen- tly awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath. Ace designer Vaishali Shadangule brings these words to life through her latest collection and how. Exhausted after her last show at the Paris Haute Couture Week (PHCW). she decided to take a walk when she happened to cross the River Seine. While she gazed at the murky waters, her mind crossed thoughts like, "What a leap of reck lessness was it to apply to the PHCW, being accepted, and going for it. Just how it had happened for my first Lakmé Fashion Week, and then for my first New York Fashion Week. Each time this happened, it unleashedanew side, or a new stage of me," And just like that, Vaishali, who had never swum in the ocean before, took a leap of faith and signed up for a diving course. What seemed like scary dark blue water at first, led her to discover the beautiful world that lies beneath and within herself "In the end, I became the muse of this collection, or all the previous versions of me that I left behind and the ones I found along the way." she shares.
The collection, Beneath, not only pays homage to the vast beauty hidden under the ocean and morphs a plethora of colours and creatures, but also transports one on a jour ney of self-discovery via the depths of the sea. The designer showcased the new edit at Lakmé Fashion Week, where she debuted 35 out of the 40 pieces she had designed as a part of the collection.
The ensembles bring together creatures like the corals, the manta ray and the sea eagle. Some of them capture the energy and the flow of the waves, the underwater currents and the different layers of blues the ocean flaunts. "We also have abstract pieces that are a mere representation, of my sensations in front of nature" she reveals, adding to same, she says, "There are a couple of designs that seemed to attract the attention for their creativity. such as the manta ray, and then there are some that attracted the audience for the creativity and the possibility of wearing them on normal occasions, such as the red one mimicking the underwater currents.
1.jpg?w=640&auto=format%2Ccompress)
Speaking of her design approach and process towards the collection, the designer says, "I normally start from the more pictorial elements, which includes textures, that I kind of take out of my very personal connection with nature."After which, the couturier moves on to draping the garment with her hands that are directly driven by impulse. She rationalises her decisions while finalising the last aesthetic and wearability retouches. Beneath boasts garments fashioned from handwoven yearns that Vaishali sourced from various villages of West Bengal, Varanasi, Chanderi and Maheshwar, which were hand woven into the finest metallic silk.
She used these shimmery fabrics to create textures like unconventional silhouettes and flowy yet, constructed lines, with the help of her karigars at her workshop in Kala Ghoda. "I make all the final gar ments by draping and by using my very own cording technique." Vaishali elaborates. Her cording technique involving styling and wrapping women's bodies in a never-before-seen manner is much talk about. The designer is not a fan of wasting a single cut of her fabrics and the reason is that a lot of hard work goes into weaving them. "It is like making use of all leftovers to achieve modern and daring shapes for my garments. 1 realised that by rolling the leftovers I could have some sustainable structures to add to my designs," she tells us.
The new edit features a goodmixed redcarpetgowns various artistic drapes and everyday wear in the hues of black, white, purple, pink, green and yellow. "Beneath is already available in stores and since several pieces are bespoke, some have already been sold," she concludes.
Price on request.