The Fall Winter 2014 collection by
Rajdeep Ranawat inspires from cold forests where myths are born and
legends are created. Where civilizations have thrived and then withered
away into oblivion. It captures the possibility of the blurred lines
between imagination and reality.
By generating diverse digital
and embroidered pieces the collection tells innovative stories and
deliver powerful ideas of fortress once beautified by the wild
imagination of human talent and creativity and their eventual downfall
to the wilderness. Creating garments in classic free flowing silhouettes
Rajdeep Ranawat tries to graphically capture a sense of degenerating
mosaics and lost handcrafted artifact; crumbling architectural
structures over run by the forest, of treasures lost and parchments
dissipated.
Using pure fabrics like silk crepe, silk georgettes,
organza and chandheri, the collection reflects its inspiration through
its fabric treatment.
The colour story of the garments strives
to create the winter mood for the collection. Seeking a dialogue with
harmony between the embroidered and the digital, between the
professionalism in his design and the familiarity in the treatment
given, between the variety of styles and uniqueness of identities;
Beyond the Cold is based in the variety and versatility of Rajdeep
Ranawat's resources and skills, the spontaneity of ideas and the
heterogeneity of our Indian craftsmen, knowing that every garment is
unique and singular.
The Winter Rose Girl is a healthy girl, pink and fresh, confident in her personality and loves to dress up!
BHINNA SHADJA
Raag Bhinna Shadja of Hindustaani Classical music, charms me with the play of listener’s perception in its variable root notes –shadja (sa) and madhyam (ma). Perception, perhaps, is a truth born through a belief.
Our associations, references, memory and contexts rule our perception most of the time. When things are changing rapidly or slowly, it is difficult to identify their beginning or the end. My collection is a testimony of that.
Through my various collections, there is an inherent desire to push my creative limits and dabble with something new yet this time, a previously done collection kept tugging at me to revisit and explore it further. When I did succumb to it, I was amazed to find that the work I had done a while back, presented itself in a fresh, unexplored form. It was as if the work I had done before was a prologue and the book was just starting. I discovered the deep joy of discovering myself again in the same body of work.
This time around, I’m deepening my exploration on the myriad possibilities of these weaves and working with woven silk and khadi again. The fresh possibilities of these weaves always challenge and surprise me.
The collection grows through an inter play between the beginning and end. The end of the garment sometimes gives an illusion of the beginning of it. Similarly, the silhouettes are a mix of construction and drapes. It’s an attempt to experiment with the conventional way of looking at the garment. The woven motives of wool, textured embroidery of cord and evenly tied beads in the cloth are the tunnels to carry the warmth of a personal touch.
The story captures the mood of the collection through white, grey, black off white and gold.
Despite going well with the overall story of the collection, every garment hints at a possibility of its own personal story.
PROFILE
An artist's work almost always is a journey into his personal universe where his deep reflection gets manifested in his creations. In the case of Vaishali Shadangule, this phenomenon takes on a new, deeper dimension.
Her journey started with breaking out of the society prescribed life to pursue her artistic leanings. Those leanings got concretized and took the shape of obnoxiously literal garments crafted from gossamer like loom-woven textiles. Over the years Vaishali has brought an ease into the slightly stiff DNA of a woven sari with her spirit of innovation and morphed the yardage into myriad, easy to wear, forms.
An avid explorer whose ears are trained to follow the faint yet compelling 'clack-clack' of the distant looms that promise variegated palette and texture, Vaishali, donning the mantle of an intrepid explorer, travels there with gusto. If the Madhya Pradesh looms offer her the Chanderi, then the women ruled ones from Assam give her the Mekhalachadder, vibrant Khand and Paithini come from Maharashtra and the delicate Jamdani and Khadi are yielded by Bengal.
The journey of the label Vaishai S began in 2007 and within few years acquired a daunting identity. Vaishali brews a heady concoction where glamorous, modern silhouette is stirred with honest loom fabric and sprinkled with the fragrance of soil from a distant village.
