Bachchas can party!
ANUPAMAA DAYAL, FASHION DESIGNER
We launched our label Anupamaa in 2004 in an attempt to spread the Indian-ness around the world. Nature inspires me. The one thing that keeps me going is the beauty of nature. I have always tried to combine the magnificence with practicality to create my designs.
What fires my imagination is the urge to create something unique. And I realise it comes naturally to me as I respect and understand tradition. What differentiates us and makes us special is our culture, so it’s important to keep our age-old values and customs relevant to today’s time.
My designs celebrate colours. I love playing with colours-on-colours, prints-onprints and combining two different things to create new forms. My favourite recurring theme is flowers and leaves. I also tend to combine graphic prints with ikats or floral patterns to give a modern twist to my creations.
Our newly designed children’s line distills the essence of our brand. The birth of the collection came about as a need. Being a mother, I realised that kids wear in the market doesn’t have enough character or spirit.
It all started with my recent trip to Kuwait. While thinking about gifts for my friend’s children, I came up with an idea of creating a dress for her little girl as I couldn’t find anything suitable for her. So I went ahead and designed a dress for her, which then inspired me to develop a complete collection.
The range is titled Teesta, named after my kids Neel and Teesta. The collection is no different from our women’s wear. It’s just the mini version. The fabrics used are mostly light summer silk and hand-woven Chandheri. The colour palette is bright and fun. The techniques used include the ageold hand-block, ikat and we have used discharge printing as well.
As told to
Nidhi Sethi