This Wednesday, Kunwarani Ritu Singhji, from The Royal House of Wankaner, Gujarat will be coming to Kolkata for a pop-up of her latest spring-summer collection at Istara. The exhibition, called The Royal Entourage will showcase Kunwarani Ritu’s latest fusion wear in mulmul cotton, with light, pastel shades and floral combinations.
Kunwarani Ritu, who specialises in Indian wear, will be exhibiting two types of collection at the pop-up, daywear, and occasionwear, which uses lace, Swarovski and hand-block prints with cotton. Her garments are a fusion of Indian wear, such as kurtas, skirts, palazzos, churidar, and ghararas, which can be styled differently to get a chic and trendy look.
While there are some that can be worn as daywear, in light colours like baby pink, lemon yellow, off white and turquoise, there are much more ornate pieces like lehenga with gota and zardosi work with a net or organza dupatta for occasions, like haldi, mehendi, and sangeet ceremony. You can also find mulmul saris in hand-block prints, a statement feature of her garments.
Kunwarani Ritu has her own printing unit in Jaipur and they make their own blocks too, which makes the designs truly unique. “This is the first time that I will be coming to Kolkata and am very excited about it. The present collection is very light and breezy, to go with the weather. We are coming up with some unique colour combinations and we have tried to keep a very reasonable price too,” she informs.
“I started out with designing kids wear. After my daughter was born, I realised while shopping for her clothes that there weren’t any good kids wear labels; which got me into designing clothes for kids in special cotton. Now I also do a customised mother-daughter collection too,” she adds.
Kunwarani Ritu taps into the garments from the royal family for inspiration. “When I married into the royal family, the clothes of our ancestors, woven with real gold zardozi really inspired me to create bridal couture in cotton, with similar works, which looks traditional and classy at the same time. The city of Wankaner itself is very rich in cultural heritage and never fails to inspire me,” says Kunwarani Ritu, whose works are quite popular among young brides, for the chic and trendy look that her clothes bring.
So what’s the next she is planning?- we asked her. “At present, I am working on coming out with a menswear collection, where I will be making achkans in real brocade from Benares. Perhaps the next time when I come, just before the wedding season, I will get them for the Kolkata people too,” she smiles.
Ayush and Archana Sarda presents The Royal Entourage at Istara, on March 27, 11 am- 8 pm