On Saturday, 22nd of September, Istituto Marangoni had their annual alumni meet at the beautiful Mumbai Campus. The stardust of the institute alumni and the backdrop of a 360° Arabian Sea view, set the tone for the glittering evening to follow. This would be the day the new fashion trendsetters would be unveiled and IndieFolio Network was right in the midst of the action. We had the opportunity to meet and talk to all the designers and experts, about their work and journey.
What was fascinating for us was the fact that though all of them studied the same fashion design course from the same institute, most of them have gone ahead and created very diverse brands in their own individual styles.
Our curators were specially struck by the ingenuity and guile of 3 young designers.
One of them was Niti Singhal, founder of “Twee in One”. She creates convertible and reversible clothing that easily lets you change your look from Day To Night, Formal To Casual, Meeting To Party. We were just amazed at her craft and took some time to wrap our heads around it and get in a conversation to explore her marvelous creations.
Twee in One – When, How, Why? We want to know it all.
I moved back to India in 2017 and started working on Tweeinone and launched it on 29th May 2017. The idea struck me when I was working in Italy as an embroidery designer, my company had provided me with a small room, which was barely enough for me, leave alone my clothes. In a foreign land, I would make use of every weekend to travel around. And each time, I packed my bag, I wondered that life would be perfect if I could carry and store less, yet have more.
The only way this was possible was to optimise the space that one garment took. That’s when I developed the concept of reversible and convertible clothing.
What makes Twee-in-One concept unique is that these clothes, not just have different colours or prints on the two sides, but a completely different look and feel. One can wear the same garment for an entire day and go from a causal look to a formal one by simply flipping sides.
What’s your design process before creating any new clothes? How is it different from how any other clothing would be designed?
Unlike other designers, I don’t need to go in my creative zone to create anything new. New ideas can pop up anytime, anywhere. On a flight, at the airport, at a restaurant, in my workspace, or even in my sleep. I do like to create a mood board when I start working on a new collection since that gives me a sense of direction to follow.
It is very different from other clothing designed, as these clothes are not just stylish and trendy but also have to be correct in terms of functionality and it’s technical aspects too.
What is the response you’ve received for “Twee In One”? What do you think is the most challenging part of your designing ”two in one” clothes?
I have been fortunate enough to get an extremely positive response since our launch and it encourages me to work harder and launch capsule collections every few months.
Every day is a new challenge. And while developing this concept, the main challenge was to get both the sides right, in terms of the design, fit and comfort. The next challenge was to find a way to convey this idea to the world and to make them believe that something like this could work. It’s “Magic!” but it’s real!
SEAM by Mit Shah is another fashion design label that we found extremely interesting. SEAM is all about custom-made jackets and t-shirts that are hand embroidered or painted with rich, bright colours. He gave us some insights into his label.
What is SEAM? What’s your inspiration behind “SEAM”?
“SEAM” – A line where two pieces of fabric are sewn together in a garment of the article. We focus on quality, craftsmanship and eccentric playful embroidery, which is a trademark of the label and defines our style essence.
What is the process you follow usually for creating jackets & shirts?
The process is very organic at SEAM, we mainly do custom-made pieces. It involves weaving a story from listening to the client’s details, drafting the same on paper, brainstorming with the team, workers and finally handcrafting the final product. The pieces are all hand painted & hand embroidered, giving a luxurious feel to the product.
There are a lot of variations in your designs? Sometimes it’s a pet dog, other time a tiger or some other creative faces or art. Are all these made to order?
Keeping the variations in mind – Yes each piece is a custom made piece. The pet story started just as a gift for a friend In Argentina who had a French bulldog named Lupita, once we got the picture from her. It became an ESP (emotional selling proposition) for the brand. The consumers could relate to the same and we got the pet stories running for them.
Another fashion label was Two Point Two by Anvita Sharma. Her clothes are worn by some of the biggest names in Bollywood like Anushka Sharma, Huma Qureshi, Ayushman Khurana, Sonakshi Sinha, Malaika Arora amongst others and even featured on the cover of Femina India.
Why did you start “Two points two”? What was the key inspiration behind it? And what is the differentiator?
Ever since I started studying fashion, Pattern making and garment construction were my favourite subjects. I used to be that student who used to bore the class by asking too many questions. This inquisitiveness led me to question the technical difference between menswear and womenswear which led to this hunger of removing gender categorization from clothing all together. This love for making clothes which were rebellious and to question these set rules, resulted in the birth of Two Point Two. Going beyond the binaries of gender and taking it to the next level (2.2 level) is the main motto of the brand.
So many people, so many designers so so many clothes and designs. How do you bring originality to the garments you design?
I just design what I think is fresh and not boring. I don’t believe in competing with others to get something new to the market. I believe in competing with myself and challenging myself to do something entirely different from the last season. Being a young brand, we have the freedom to experiment and find our voice, and I plan to exploit this freedom to its fullest.
What are the key factors you consider before designing anything new?
The main aim is being true to the core concept of the brand by keeping every piece of garment as genderless. Some might be more experimental than the others but encapturing versatility in the soul of the designs so that it could go beyond any set societal categorizations in regards to gender, age, size, race, etc.