Get personal, with your wardrobe

Manpriya Singh

Pune-based designer Karishma Shahani has never touched bridal-wear, so far. Certain fashion sensibilities don’t easily lend to Indian version of couture. For instance, breathable fabrics, sustainable fashion and practical clothing. “But lately a lot of my staple clients have been requesting me to do bridal-wear,” she shares, in Chandigarh, for the fourth time, to take a workshop at INIFD—8.

Elaborating how her bridal outfits will not be meant, ‘for just one day’, she says, “May be this autumn winter collection, we’ll touch a few pieces of bridal-wear. But it won’t be the outfits that we are usually used to seeing with overpowering embellishments.” Comfort of the bride will be one guiding factor to begin with. “I want to introduce to the market something that’s easy to wear and carry, is graceful and something that can be carried forward beyond just one day,” she adds, hinting at working on gota embroidery and a lot of other colourful thread-work.

The collection

In the fashion world, any good designer is as good as their last or their latest collection. Hers, titled Love Story, was showcased at Lakme Fashion Week, London Fashion Week and Malaysia Fashion Week, of course in different capacities. “We also didn’t take the exact same collection everywhere. It was improvised and built upon, based on feedback before every show.”

She adds, “The essence of the collection was whatever is broken needs to be fixed with love and repair, and with golden threadwork. So Love Story had a lot of wildflowers motifs, cotton and chanderi fabrics and experimental silhouettes like saree tunics.” A pass-out from London College of Fashion, her past collections Chauraha, Yatra and Katha, have focused on surface techniques, among others things.

Step one, unfollow trends

The world is only now waking up to the need to unfollow trends and follow one’s heart when it comes to dressing. Who you are is what style is all about. “I say what I’ve always said before. In order to be a good dresser, one must keep their clothing personal. Style is your own identity and one must have one. Trends are just general guidelines that one can always reinterpret. Wear what is comfortable and wear what flatters your body.”

[email protected]