Fashion loses designers Ajit Kumar and Sadan Pande to Covid
While the fashion world was still grappling with the loss of the iconic Alber Elbaz, who designed for Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent, Geoffrey Beene and Guy Laroche in his epoch-defining career, the tragic news of Delhi-based designers Ajit Kumar of label 5X and Sadan Pande, succumbing to Covid-19 has sent shockwaves in the industry back home.
Kumar hailed from the old guard of designers who never did a runway show, but made their presence felt on different talent platforms – one of them being the Vogue Fashion Fund.
A fashion design graduate from NIFT, Delhi, (2002 batch) his label denoted the five letters of the word crossed out to highlight the positive connotations, a designer’s continuous efforts to overcome constraints to realise an ideal. He retailed from some of the top brick and mortar and online stores of India and most of the Middle East buyers stocked his label.
Kumar’s friend for 23 years and his NIFT batch mate, designer Nitin Bal Chauhan, remembers him as a jovial individual. “He was my best friend. Once we got to know he was Covid positive, we tried to give him all the support – from taking him to a hospital to providing him with oxygen. Sadly he died of cardiac arrest,” he shares.
Designer Shruti Sancheti, who has admired his work for years, says, “Ajit’s work was very ethereal yet modern…His clothes spelt of restrained luxury and understated opulence.”
Last month, fashion’s much respected designer Sadan Pande, a Lucknowite, too passed away, battling Covid. His friend and fashion entrepreneur, Amit Hansraj, says, “He was extremely understanding and supportive. His house was always open for friends and anyone visiting Delhi would stay at his place...”