The Hindu (Thiruvananthapuram)
An ode to the
The eco-conscious clothing edit is inspired by sounds, textures and the movement of waterscapes
TModels wearing the dress and sari in the Azure edit, which explores the colour spectrum of ocean and sky; fashion designer Anita Dongre; and a model displaying the brand’s red bag with hand-painted pichhwai on a vegan fabric base. he metaphorical iterations of the colour blue may have attributed to its aesthetic value. No wonder, it has been the muse of many fashion designers — from Charles Lewis Tiany’s trademark Tiany blue and Yuima Nakazato’s 2022 collection Blue Season to Stella McCartney and Fendi taking to its pale shade during the Spring-Summer ‘24 runway shows. Closer home, couturier Anita Dongre is romancing the hue’s association with Nature. Its prominent proportions in her newly launched collection, titled Azure, are coupled with eco-conscious craftsmanship. “True to the inspiration, Azure brings to life the colour spectrum of the ocean and the sky,” says Anita, who sourced Bemberg yarn exclusively from Asahi Kasei, a multinational Japanese chemical company that specialises in chemicals and materials science, for the collection.
The range, which comprises a variety of kaftans, dresses, saris and skirt sets, was born from a dream.
“I woke up one morning, buzzing to come to work and sit with my team because I had this vivid dream involving the sounds, textures and movement of waterscapes, which really inspired me. I wanted to encapsulate the ow and uidity of water with a quiet feminine sensuality,” says the designer.
She started working on the capsule around mid-August last year and states that the Mumbai monsoon added a lovely ambience while designing the collection.
“It took us about six months [to curate the edit] because we were quite particular about getting the right fabric that captured the ow I imagined,” she adds. The motifs in the collection, she says, were designed with a watercolour aesthetic and translated on the garment using digital printing.
Beaming with Bemberg
Bemberg is a brand of cupro, which is regenerated cellulose
bre. Made from 100% cotton linter that is a pre-consumer material, Bemberg is a sustainable material that is biodegradable and compostable. “The breeziness of the fabric was a perfect match. For this capsule, while we were working on the moodboard, they [Asahi Kasei] shared their latest development of soil and marine biodegradable yarn and everything just clicked,” says Anita.
She shares that her brand started working with Bemberg