Couturier Santanu Guha Thakurta who specialises in Indian and ethnic fusion wear has been working with indigenous crafts and weaves for the past 25 years through his eponymous label. "Awareness of fashion trends is certainly a phenomenon of the modern era but the diverse and the dynamic of contemporary style and fashion is rooted intrinsically in the cultural heritage of craft and weave that emphasises myriad representations of local textiles," believes Santanu.
His winter collection, Frozen in Time, too bears testimony to his belief and is a provincial ensemble of traditional weaves including pure tussar from Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Maharashtra; Bishnupuri silk, silk muslin, ketia, cotton muslin from Bengal and the age-old tant weaves.
Tell us about the collection?
In our collection, we have included intricate rich Pichwai with pitta zari work in different forms of textures keeping in mind that winter is the time for different kinds of celebrations - the most important being marriage where we try to eternally infuse the diverse regional cultural heritage of the subcontinent with the ever-changing world of fashion.
The entire edit is accentuated by intersecting creativities of traditional craft like Batik, Ajrakh, kantha, kalamkari, kachhi work among others that reclaim the heritage of the subcontinent with a heightened rendition of modernity in this collection.
The contemporary spirit of fashion lies in creativity and it is this quality that ties in traditional and eternal representations of designs with the pace and rhythm of modern life. I always try to do that in all my creative endeavours. There are saris, dupattas, exquisite blouse pieces, and handcrafted bags apart from kurtas waistcoats and shirts for men.
Tell us about your newly opened atelier, Self-Story?
Through this atelier, my friend Sumit and I have essentially tried to deconstruct the haute-couture fashion boundary by turning ‘status-seeking’ fashion into instantaneous dialogues between peoples and continents by opening the doors of Self-Story. So, naturally, people are enjoying the experience of different facets of creativity ranging from runway fashion to diverse representations of local textiles in our atelier.
What is the kind of collection you will be coming up for spring- summer?
Spring-summer collection will include a lot of ensembles with batik, kantha, and Gujarati work with intricate cut-work on different kinds of muslin. The tone, texture and colour play equally important roles in enriching the approach to the summer collection each year. During the winter we can experiment with the fabric much more than what we can do for our summer collection. During the spring-summer, people like to feel breezy and light and hence the collection is drafted keeping the essence of comfort in mind more than anything else.
How do you see the city evolving in terms of ethnic fashion?
With the influence of global fashion having a deep impact on all our lives, I see ethnic fashion gaining way more momentum than it has at any point in our cultural history. Now, we have varied representations of ethnic fashion which essentially includes ethnic drapes with modern structures and forms. Personally, in my recent collection too, I have infused modern styles like kaftans with saris and saris with different kinds of tops to fit in the contemporary pattern of fashion trends and also create new style trends more rapidly than mass-produced fashion does.
Since I have a huge client base across the globe too, I must mention that the Indian diaspora is embracing ethnic fashion with new energy and vigour. The preference includes deep ethnic representations in embellishing their sense of style. So, I have included mythical representations from Mahabharatain in my present collection to create a rich ethnic narrative for my clientele which has been hugely appreciated.
Price on request. Available at 142/1A Sarat Bose Road.