The sari becomes a metaphorical muse for the monochrome and sportswear loving Shweta Kapur of the label 431-88
By Asmita Aggarwal
Despite being part of the often challenging world of fashion for the last four years, Shweta Kapur of the label 431-88 still feels like a misfit, as there is always a raging debate in her head about what she studied at the London College of Fashion and what the changing landscape of Indian fashion desires. Thats why this time, her SS 16 line at AIFW is a conundrum of what she has absorbed as an evolved designer—-a jigsaw puzzle called the sari! I wanted to go back to my roots and explore the cultural disconnect of what I learnt and what I have to apply. So the sari came to my mind, as it also has a big DIY element attached to it, she smiles.
Moving away from her classic monochromes and minimalism which she says is boring as everyone is doing it now, Shweta has injected pinks and blues to her usually sombre palette. Spring, for me, is a fresh beginning, a new start and discovering hidden aspects of yourself, and somewhere my living in UK and experiencing the punk culture played a big role in the way we merged elements of a sari with punk aesthetics, she adds. So you will observe some commonalities, from safety pins used to fasten dresses to the same applied to the six-yard drape. Shweta has used the pallu, pleats, sari waist and borders to create a completely new silhouette, where you can see flashes of the inspiration minus the unmistakable Indian touch.
We did prints last season for the first time, this time we have extensively worked with a laser cut technique, and also added facets of sportswear like the mesh and used it as Mughal jail on sari-inspired silhouettes, without making it too literal in again, not jersey or knit, which we love, but crepe and georgette, she adds.
Though what remains an uphill task for the 27-year-old is striking a balance between commercialism and the creative process, and somewhere she feels design gets compromised. I am looking at the future by getting active on social media, working on apps so that Gen Z can access it with ease, thats the only way forward from here, she concludes.