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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Sanjay Garg: Excess baggage
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Sanjay Garg: Excess baggage

Sanjay Garg's first ready-to-wear line was more suited to a textile exhibition than the ramp

Sanjay Garg’s collection uses the complex Kadua weaving technique. Photo: Viral BhayaniPremium
Sanjay Garg’s collection uses the complex Kadua weaving technique. Photo: Viral Bhayani

Over the years Sanjay Garg has acquired quite a reputation. Known for the way he conveyed fluidity to woven drapes, especially Chanderi, the sari designer burst on the fashion scene in 2008 with his label Raw Mango.

Garg ingeniously used negative space through unusually coloured, woven saris—their vast fields interrupted only by remotely placed whimsical motifs. He converted women with different style mindsets across cities in all age groups into joyful sari adherents. But his prêt line may need more thought if it is to be as game-changing as his saris.

Garg’s first ready-to-wear line, shown at his debut at the Lakmé Fashion Week’s (LFW’s) Winter-Festive 2014 edition, was more suited to a textile exhibition than the fashion ramp. His novel approach to handlooms needed to be examined and appreciated up close.

Shown under his new label Sanjay Garg, the collection approached weaving with a tailoring approach. “It is my way to express that handlooms can also be used for garment making and to challenge embroidery as the primary embellishment for bridal garments," says Garg. Divided into three sections, the line had a bridal segment with intricate brocade work all over the garments that played up his favourite bird motifs; a segment with elegant brocade only at the edges; and absolutely plain garments made from handwoven silks. All woven with the silhouette in mind, nothing cut up to make a dress or a jacket.

The collection, which used the Kadua technique—this most complex of Varanasi’s weaving traditions is only infrequently employed these days—explored gold-ivory, rani-pink, blazing leaf green (not our favourite in the palette), deep purple and peach as its ruling colours. It had lehnga-cholis with organza dupattas and a couple of plain organza saris with slim gold edges. The rest were tailored garments—below-the-knee midis with empire-line waists, tall and mid-sized maxis, quilted jackets and brocade sherwanis, structured kurtas, panelled gowns and slim pants. Inspired by the costumes of the Gadia Lohar tribe of Rajasthan, Garg’s cholis used construction to replicate inbuilt bras.

In weaving ingenuity, this collection, like that of Abraham & Thakore’s Shaadi Redux of 2012—which used chatai patterns woven on Varanasi looms to create ready-to-wear garments, many of them bridal—will go down in Indian fashion history as an exemplary project. But when fabric moves from the unstitched expanse of a sari to a tailored garment, it requires form, contour and fluidity.

These were lacking in many silhouettes. Empire-waist midis with woven brocade on their skirts looked stiff, as did some maxis and short jackets—there was no flow. Every woven garment is not excellent just because it is woven or has a novel handloom theory behind it. While Garg used monochromes for his ensembles instead of colour contrasts, some of the overall brocade saris or long, fitted jackets not only reminded us of Varanasi’s tradition of excess in dressing through brocade but to the untrained eye, would look exactly just that—dense, ornate brocade. Not brocade woven with a specific purpose.

The presentation was also devoid of the spectacle that makes a fashion show a compelling production. African tribal music pulsed in the background but the styling was too literal, almost insipid. Not using jewellery and keeping the hair minimal may be considerations of restraint but storytelling needs a certain idea concerned either with styling or with stagecraft to create memorable viewing.

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Published: 30 Aug 2014, 12:21 AM IST
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