Redefining Indian Minimalism Beyond the Bling

Many Indian designers have shown at the London Fashion Week before him. So Garg wanted to debut breaking stereotypes. “There is still a strong association between Indian fashion and a certain kind of aesthetic — heavy gold embroidery and maximalist ensembles that overwhelm the eye and the body with ‘bling’. Indian fashion is too often quantified – it’s not seen for its innate aesthetic value, but the number of hours it took a weaver to create a garment. It’s a surface-level engagement that sometimes drowns out the beauty of the weave itself.”

The theme, ‘It’s Not About The Flower’, stems from his love for flowers. Except here he uses them as garlands that wrap around every Indian ritual and here becomes an embracing cape, a fur-trim, a top, a jacket, a sari border, a dress, skirt, a throw, an accessory. All garlands were done by hand-rolling silk, brocades, rib-knit cotton knits, quilted rayon and wool felt.

The theme, ‘It’s Not About The Flower’, stems from his love for flowers. (PR Handout)

In short, the flower and the fabric it is made out of doesn’t remain a motif or embellishment like the embroidery we are so used to seeing, it is the structure and the garment itself. “Flowers remain an important part of South-East Asia and South Asia. But we don’t really have a culture of giving one individual flower to someone, like, say, a rose on Valentine’s Day. As a culture, we are a country of garlands. Whether it’s a death, a birth, a wedding or a religious ritual, you see garlands, irrespective of the religion. It’s not about one individual flower; it’s about the plurality,” said Garg about a design aesthetic that went down well with the audience, The New York Times rating Garg as one of the names to look out for. Yes, he had black flower garlands, too.

Garg did several twists and flips. Building on the diagonal drape of the sari, he did a sash gown in black with mogra flowers on the border, much flaunted by sitarist Anoushka Shankar. More than the sari, he went with overlays, trench coats, free-flowing gowns, shirt-skirt combos and waist high pants, in striking combinations of black and white, clearly a take-off on the classic Western white shirt-black tie look. There were colour pops too, brocade with garland motifs. The perforated dresses were clearly a peep-hole metaphor, to dive deeper into what Indian craftsmanship was really about instead of what he called “surface-level engagement.”

Although the London Fashion Week showcased autumn-winter lines, Garg doesn’t believe in confining himself to boxes. London was just a platform to speak in a more forceful voice. “Presenting here is as good as presenting in Kanpur for me. At the end of the day, it is the work being presented that matters. And that doesn’t change according to who is viewing it, or where. I’m less interested in defining my audience and more interested in further exploring and articulating my design language that can cater to different audiences that transcends borders and seasons,” he said.

Apart from Akshata Murthy and Anoushka Shankar, the UK Indian community showed up in full strength. The guest list included film director Gurinder Chadha, actor Saim Ali, artist Cyrill Ibrahim, artist Lubna Chowdhary, Rahi Chadda, founder of Openended Design Suhair Khan, art collector and philanthropist Aarti Lohia, curator Tarini Malik and creative and cultural strategist Arooj Aftab.