Indian Designers: My Top Picks for Autumn/Winter 2014

Indian designers are currently thriving and we are seeing a wide variety of styles and designers being brought into the limelight and displayed both on the catwalk and online.We have chosen a few of our current favourite Indian designers at the moment that we feel are perfect for this A/W!

Our first pick is Meera Mahadevia, she is perhaps the best kept secret in the international luxury handbag market. The brand began 27 years ago as a customised design accessory for celebrities and socialites across the world. Till now her designs have been only accessible to those who were lucky enough to grace the red carpet, but today her creations are showcased across India in a number of high-end fashion boutiques and online stores. 

Anushka clutch

A Meera Mahadevia luxury handbag comes in an eccentric and extremely varied range of stunning styles and designs, and are often made up of a distinctive blend of brass and copper embellished with wood carvings, marble inlays, silver engravings, semi-precious stones, antique frames, and spiritual emblems. Each handbag is said to be detailed to a fine precision, and all by using the most basic and artistic manufacturing tool of all time: the human hand! 

                                                 

                                                                  Pochette clutch

                                                
                                                 
                                              Stylish blue and golden clutch

                                                    
                                                 
                                                Maharani gayatri devi clutch
                                               
Our Second pick of one of our current favourite Indian designers is Myoho. Myoho designs have been recently described as a ‘seamless confluence of ethnicity, femininity and subtlety’, which we think describes the designs perfectly!                                   
                                          
                                                
                                                              Red floral pattered dress

Myoho designs are easy, relaxed and organic and have a beautiful range of elegant and wearable looks for any occasion. Although the designs have a clear traditional influence, they also have a modern and contemporary twist which creates a very high fashion and up to date appearance.

See more here

THE HISTORY OF FLORAL PATTERNED INDIAN CLOTHES

Indian clothes have always had an alluring quality, whether it being because of the vibrant and rich colours, the exquisite craftsmanship or the beautiful and sensuous fabrics. Indian textiles have been sought after for centuries. The Romans marvelled at the Indian muslins describing them as ‘woven air’. When the Europeans landed on the shores of India it was not only the rich spices that excited them but also the colourful dyes, high quality materials and floral patterns. The Floral patterns used in Indian clothes were so popular that by 1600 a particular type of floral patterned textile called Chintz, which was influenced by the Mughal art and the decorative traditions in Islamic art, was being imported into England. This floral textile was in such high demand that by 1680 more than a million pieces of chintz were imported per year. Although where did these traditional floral designs originate? And why were they so popular in India?

Firstly it was during the reign of Jahangir between 1605 and 1627 that Mughal decorative arts came into their own as a fully developed form of creative expression. Jahangir’s went on a trip to Kashmir in 1620 where he was overwhelmed by the beauty of the flower-filled valleys. After this trip, Jahangir commissioned paintings and decorative objects incorporating floral motifs.

The Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan who ruled between 1628 and 1658 also had a fascination for floral imagery and he instigated the painting of flowering plants for the next two centuries. The floral motifs during this period became more stylized. These patterns were incorporated into textiles, decorative objects and painted on manuscripts but also used in architecture for example the extensive floral decorations on the Taj Mahal.

The floral motifs used in Indian textiles are still prominent today as we can see it clearly used to decorate Indian clothes and used to style Indian jewellery. A great example of a designer using floral patterns to create glamorous and elegant Indian clothes is Myoho whose designs are relaxed and organic with delicate, splendid printed floral patterns.

Myoho By Kiran and Meghna At Wills India Fashion Week 2013

   Myoho is a womenswear label by Kiran Jaisinghani and Meghna Agarwal. The style sensibilities represent garments that are easy, relaxed and organic, each Myoho ensemble is derived from a storehouse of earthy Indian handlooms.   

To look for more information about Myoho click on:  Myoho at Strand of Silk. 

                                                                                         

A few days ago Kiran and Meghna showed their designs to this Autumn Winter 2013-2014 at Wills India Fashion Week 

At this event they showed garments with colours in 

                               block shuch as blue, yellow and red.

The collection of this season is going to be based on a mix of diferent colors drawing upon screen prints and  detailed block to decorate the differents outfits.