Naga warriors inspire Anupamaa Dayal as she comes back riveted from a trip to the north-east and confesses to be ‘inked with love’.

By Asmita Aggarwal

After a journey of almost 10 years in the world of glittering gowns and blinding arch lights, Anupamaa Dayal has found her niche. She calls her voyage a “complete joy”. “Every day I count my blessings. To do what I love to do, to be able to support my family and many others. To receive love and appreciation from women across the world is indeed a privilege. Over the years, I remain essentially the same person, who is drawn to nature, nomadic stories and I use fashion as a transformational tool. What keeps moving forward is the confidence with which I express myself,” she adds.

Bohemian and inspired greatly by her Bengali roots and Indian history, Anupamaa does not feel that fashion can be limiting, and admits that home, décor and accessories are a part of her diversification plans. “In my understanding of fashion, that is also fashion, as I will approach them in the same manner, against a backdrop of trends and sexiness and the goal to making everyone happy. I absolutely love going across the board with product categories,” she adds.

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If you ask her what remains her signature, she will tell you without any hesitation that she makes “happy clothes”, and is inspired by cultural roots and stories and likes to set women free from having to be a certain size or status. “I often hear that I work with colours in an unusual manner and that’s heartening,” she smiles.

With designers changing the narrative of silhouettes to address the needs of a modern woman, Anupamaa admits that she loves how fashion has changed. “From a certain snobbery of catwalks and the ivory towers of the privileged, fashion is now so much more democratic, as is a modern woman. She needs clothes to express herself as she leads a full life. We need to give her just that,” she affirms.

A couple of months back, she “finally” visited Nagaland and “made friends with many tribes”. “I tried many types of unusual food, bees, hornets, the dreaded Naga chilli, had a chance to closely examine the tattoos of proud head hunters (one tattoo per head hunting trip undertaken), personally, bestowed by the wife of the Ang (Chief). And, of course, there is the whole cultural wealth of textiles, basketry, ornaments, weaponry and more. The prints of the collection ‘Fight and Feast’ have been inspired by outstanding weaves of the Naga community,” she says about her autumn-winter 2016 line  shown at the AIFW’16.

Remaining true to the Indian aesthetics, Anupamaa’s favourite ensemble remains the ubiquitous and uber cool salwar-kameez. “It will keep us feeling Indian, but in an oh-so-modern manner,” she explains.Not altering the colour palette for autumn, she believes most Indian fabrics lend themselves to warm weather use, even though most Indian designers would also have their forte in spring-summer. “However, we have learnt how to layer and work with deeper hues to cater to cooler climes,” she remarks.

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Fashion is somewhere all about telling a story and Anupamaa has done just that for autumn. “As Indians we are used to being called ‘exotic’. To the Western eye our looks, dress, traditions, food, religion and philosophy, all feel unusual and mystical. As an Indian, who has spent her childhood and adult life all over this fascinating land, she admits that our diverse cultures are still riveting. But there is one culture that even for us, and for the rest of the world tops all charts on ‘exotic’. The Nagas! Head hunting, snake eating, frighteningly aggressive and completely mysterious Nagas. Many tribes are sometimes at war with each other. Also known for their fierce resistance to British rule. What did I come back with was a sense of having touched something raw and timeless. Tattooed forever in my senses and inked with love. It was not my head but my heart that was hunted. I share my Naga stories with you this season,” she says.

She also had a lot of fun with the accessories like head rests, bangles, neckpieces, long earrings, anklets, chokers, upper arm bands, spiral forearm bands, kauri apron and bracelets, head bands, tiaras and caps with horns. Materials used for making accessories included faux feathers, Naga inspired bangles, bamboo stripes of Anupamaa textiles, antiques brass teeny figurines and knick-knacks of copper andgold.

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