Archives for posts with tag: Arti Sandhu

Before heading off to the big smoke – to attend WLIFW (Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, SS 2014), in New Delhi – I got a taste of some of the fashions favored in a town named Solan in Himachal Pradesh.

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Solan has always been abuzz with suit (salwar kameez) sellers and tailors as salwar kameez is the preferred garment worn by most women here. Alongside this, there is a thriving market for woolen garments and tailored suits. More recently, due to the 5:30pm shut down of the main town center to all motorized traffic that allows for pedestrians to enjoy the evening hours shopping and walking freely without the hassle of cars and buses, the display of street style has intensified – especially amongst young college going men and women (of which there are many, as there are so many colleges in the area). I will post more from that later. Here are some snapshots before I get to Delhi…

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Writing about Couture in India made me think about these photographs I took at Delhi Couture Fashion Week, at JJ Valaya’s show (July 2010).

His pieces twinkled past me and my camera. The next month I was fortunate enough to meet with the designer himself, at his soon to open store outside of Delhi. We talked about the relationship between luxury and couture in India, his experiences as a couturier and his attempt to copyright his traditional motifs and patterns… the details of which I highlight in my book’s chapter on Indian Design.

My love for museum storage and shoes comes together in this pic

 

Jeans and pants await their alteration at a street side tailoring stall in South Delhi. (Summer 2010)

(New Delhi, July 2008)

Clothes have a tendency of performing in different ways when the environment they are worn in changes. I’ve always known this was true for my t-shirts that always seemed to get shorter on visits to India. A few years ago my husband hung his banyan  (vest, singlet… whatever you call them in your country) up on the closet door in our room in Delhi. It was summer, the fan and the air conditioner was on. The banyan did a dance for us. We were captivated….