Lucknow girl showcases collection at fashion week

City-based entrepreneur Anju Narain exhibits her collection alongside top designers at LFW

Lucknow-based designer and entrepreneur Anju Narain (right) recently showcased her traditional yet contemporary chikankari collection at the recently concluded Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai.

With modern silhouettes and styling, her Summer Resort collection was exhibited alongside A-listed designers that included Tarun Tahiliani, Ritu Kumar, Gaurang Shah and Meera-Muzaffar Ali.

“All the designers were on one platform and this year, after going through a stringent procedure, I opted for the exhibition to showcase my collection to the buyers and designers who came from across the globe,” she tells HT City. Talking about her collection, she says, “I have been visiting this fashion week for the last eight years and noticed that rarely any designer showcases chikankari. So, to take our artform to higher level, I designed an entire range for this show which had motifs from ancient times while the styling and cuts were done in a very contemporary manner. We used forms like heavy jali and daraz which very few people do nowadays.”

It included loose flowing capes to the layered touchdown dresses, figure hugging crop tops, sharara pants and knotted lungis.

Anju is deeply into chikankari and nearly 90 per cent of her entire collection consists of this handicraft. “I am a big fan of chikan art form and a feminist to the core. With this I am empowering the 200-250-odd girls who are working for us and I sincerely feel that handicraft workers should earn more and do well in life.”

Anju is not a trained designer and creates her styling on instinct. “A lot of people ask me how I could do all this without formal education in the form but my passion drives me. It comes naturally to me.”

She established Myra by Anju Narain five years back and runs her studio in Mahanagar. Lately, she has been joined by her husband Samarth. Now next she plans to showcase her collection on the LFW ramp.