For 46 years, Pallavi Jaikishan has thrived in an industry that is known to abandon trends as swiftly as they are embraced. Nostalgia her ICW 2018 line is an ode to how old is the new, new!
By Asmita Aggarwal
Life has mysterious ways to bring us to where we need to arrive, even though sometimes we are unaware of the oddballs that it throws in our direction that we learn to over time dodge, you never know what might come out of its nooks and crannies to surprise you!
So for Pallavi Jaikishan, who was born with a silver spoon, into the Mariwalas family and married to Jaikishan Panchal of the duo who gave a million music hits, Shankar-Jaikishan, life took a turn for the worse when she lost her husband. I suddenly was faced with the reality that I am a widow so to keep my sanity I started designing, a hobby that turned into a serious profession due to circumstances, she says.
This was 46 years ago, in the early 70s when Pallavi launched her first collection in a rented space on Peddar Road and it became a sell out. I had nothing to give the next day to my customers, she remembers, and adds, But I knew I was good at this, despite no formal training in fashion. I do believe that fashion schools can put you in the right direction, but style is inborn, either you have it or you dont.
However, what big fashion houses could not do, Pallavi managed single-handedly, and that was to survive in an industry like fashion where fleeting tastes rule and so does fickle loyalty. When I began, it was tailor raj, women used to go to tailors with catalogues and if he was good, the outfit would turn out respectable, she laughs. There were no retails shops, mostly women wore saris to college, just like Pallavi did. My biggest teacher was time and experience and mistakes, they kind of chasten you, she admits.
What she got right was to always keep it timeless so she confesses that women who she dresses wear the same saris on their wedding and their sons wedding as the fabrics and embroideries dont age. But what has been her mainstay is her roses that come in a melange of hues from red, the most preferred, to yellows and pinks. We change blouses according to the season, and I do many embroideries from Parsi gara to chikankari, but in a classic way rather than the often misused work contemporary, she says.
Doing a show in Delhi after many years, she doesnt remember how many, and that too couture, Pallavi is going back in time to revive what she had done 25 years ago. So there will be the French fabric that is translucent and has an inherent sheen that she imports from Paris. You cant stretch it beyond a point as it will tear, so to work with it is the hardest, as embroideries need to be executed dexterously, she adds.
She has also introduced her favourite Lame with pleated skirts teamed up with jackets and of course, there are flowers, which is the recurring leitmotif in her line, though the colours have changed to aubergines and cranberries.
With destination weddings becoming huge, Pallavi believes that her clientele does not like OTT, but subtle bling and as a designer she must be able to interpret the brides dream, only in that is her success. I was a big fan of Chanels classic tweed jacket which I still proudly own, as well as Cristobal Balenciaga with his experiments with volume. But what I learnt is that you can survive just on couture as I never launched any perfume or bag verticals, she says.
You cant undermine the devotion she has to fashion as she goes everyday to the factory at 8.30 and it is a 10-hour working day for her, six days a week. You must have staying power if you are in fashion and commitment as well as an eye on the future, she confesses.
Whats most interesting is that Pallavi never sells online and does couture by appointment only, but that has neither affected her balance sheet or sales. I see a lot of designers launching their collections on instagram, somehow I feel a customer needs attention when it is made-to-order, and the touch and feel is important. My new store is on Peddar Road, a stones throw away from where I started almost four decades ago. So Nostalgia my line for ICW is how I have come a full circle, she concludes.