The year was 1845. 27-year-old philosopher Henry David Thoreau turned his back on his father’s business to set out for a life in a hand-built cabin in the woods – a place called Walden Pond. During this self-imposed isolation, he arrived at the essentials required for fulfilment in the midst of modern life’s uproar – a life of simplicity, self-reliance and a more conscious relationship with nature. Based on these experiences, he wrote the book Walden – Life in the Woods, which was published nine years later. Since then, the book has become a Bible for millions on their quest for self-actualisation.
Inspired by it, Kerala-based clothing label Mantra recently launched their latest edit Finding Walden. Designed during the COVID-19 lockdown years of 2021-2022, the collection features tiered dresses, panelled and A-line tunics. But how does the inspiration from a 19th century book find resonance in this
age? Founder and lead designer of Mantra, Shalini James shares, “Thoreau’s two-year sojourn in the woods is uncannily similar to our own during the pandemic and by the end of this period, we too had re discovered ‘our’ Walden. Hence, this collection was named Finding Walden, in commemoration of this journey of self-discovery.” She adds, “The COVID-19 lockdowns had taken a toll, both personally and professionally. The consequent inner churn of thoughts and ideas led to this collection.”
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Resultantly, the silhouettes in the collection exude gloom, albeit in a pensive way. “Though, I worked with a vibrant colour palette and artisanal textiles that normally exude joy, I could not shake off the shroud of gloom that unwittingly settled on this collection. So, instead, I chose to embrace it in the palette,” notes Shalini. The colour palette boasts shades such as dark and muted browns contrasted with sunset orange and fuschia and solemn ochre to contrast berry pink and teal. The subtle interplay of yarn — both vibrant and muted — lead to very rare hues. “I would like to believe that this collection held the gloom induced by the pandemic in its wake, allowing it to serve as a foil full of wisdom and caution to the vibrancy of the days to follow,” Shalini says.
This contrast is evident in the layering of the textiles too. Shalini reveals the textiles used, “The main fabric in the collection is handloom cotton, woven in the village of Mangalagiri in Andhra Pradesh. In the same colour palette, prints were developed in Sanganer and Masulipatnam. There is an assortment of handcrafted textiles kalamkari, sanganeri and phulia — complementing mangalgiri fabric.” And to enable layering, the cuts have been kept flowy and airy, going against the trend of shape-defining clothes. Shalini’s last collection Chitrakoot was a collaboration with the eco-friendly LIVA fabric, exploring the resist-dyeing and block-printing techniques of Bagru. It was launched at the Lotus Makeup India Fashion Week A/W ‘19 and was showcased at Collage in Bengaluru and Chennai. Like Chitrakoot and all other previous collections of Mantra, a craft-intensive design aesthetic reigns supreme across the collection of Finding Walden as well. According to Shalini, that also comes from a sense of urgency to support textile crafts that languished during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
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However, one major way in which Finding Walden is different from all other collections is that the silhouettes in it are a bit more minimalistic. Moreover, some designs are signature to this collection. In Shalini’s words, Finding Walden is a, “medley of hand-woven checks, stripes, and motifs,” that has come together. There is a tiny ‘candle’ motif, which symbolises the glimmer of hope, that is only present in this collection.
Spilling beans about her upcoming projects, Shalini gives us a sneak peek of her next edit. The brand started in Kochi in 2003 and has its only stores in Kerala; and its next collection has been created as an ode to the textiles of the state. Called Mission Malabar, the silhouettes in the collection are made from handloom textiles woven in the Malabar belt of Kerala. The colour palette, in dramatic contrast to that of Finding Walden, is a powder-puff pastel palette complementing ivory, the hue that is virtually inseparable from Kerala handloom. “Also, there are plans in the pipeline to open a Mantra store in Chennai in the third quarter of this year,” she concludes.
INR 5,500 onwards. Available online.
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Twitter: @MallikPrattusa