Jaipur handblock meets Japanese aesthetics as Mayori opens its doors in Chennai 

MUCH OF Jaipur-based label Mayori’s inspiration comes from Japanese aesthetics — whether that’s their wide range of prints, or the dye that they use for their line of kurtis and dresses. Vrinda Agrawal, who earlier ran a multi-designer boutique in Chennai named Miraangi (which stocked designer wear from Anamika Khanna, Manish Malhotra and Sabyasachi),  developed an affinity towards Japanese prints and eventually went on to collaborate with Japanese designers to create Mayori. After opening stores in Jaipur, Hyderabad and Bengaluru,the brand opened their first store at Chennai’s Bergamo Mall two weeks back. They’re also opening their doors to the public with an exclusive three-day showcase of their new pastel collection, Summer Sonnets. 

Talking to us over a call from Japan, Vrinda works primarily with handwoven cotton and wants to create a line that can be worn on a daily basis, without having to worry about bleeding colours or even shrinkage. “Why must women be worried about things like these? So, here at Mayori, we put the extra effort and do a pre-shrinkage, and a pre-wash technique so that in the long run the functionality increases,”explains Vrinda. The designer has collaborated with a Japanese textile designer named Sueyoshi San from Tokyo, who is the creative behind all their clothes. 

Summer Sonnets is a pastel line sans the Japanese elements. These are outfits with gota work, and features a lot of different silhouettes. You can find double-layered pants of different heights, with ruffled dupattas and gota work even on the sleeves.  The slow fashion line sticks to only cotton in different forms that are sourced from Erode and Jaipur, using ASO-free colours (they don’t bleed) that are imported from Japan and all the pieces are put together at their unit in Jaipur. 

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The story is a flurry of happy colours, and you can find an extensive range of jumpsuits, mix-and-match pieces with different cuts like umbrella cuts, handkerchief cuts and pintuck kurtis with a flare. “Our Bottoms Bar have pants in different silhouettes, like the tulip pants, leheri pants, and the Japanese cut pants. I’d like to point out that all our pants and kurtis have pockets!”says Vrinda. Anyone who has worn a jumpsuit knows the rigmarole one has to go through to go to the restroom. Mayori’s bestseller are their drapey jumpsuits, which is constructed to avoid all of that. Incidentally it was after a Boomerang video that was posted on their Instagram, that this piece became a fast-seller. Apart from mustard, you can also find it in black, rusty red, green and brown. 

Starts at Rs 900. 
The three-day exhibition starts on April 12.