You think of fashion and runways and images of the men in Paris, the women in Milan, the Beckhams and Anna Wintour in the first row pop up. What doesn’t are the dozens of arguments with tailors, the sweaty walks through the length of the city in search for the perfect fabric and countless fittings amidst nerve-wracking self doubt and looming deadlines. Not only do the winners of the JD Annual Design Awards 2015 straddle both worlds, but they do it with staggering creative talent.
As the young designers open up about their journey, we get a picture of the life of a collection and how it reaches the runway. With more than 120 graduating students of the JD Institute showcasing 250 garments created from scratch – the one binding factor was the theme of purity that ran through all the collections. After winning the first award for her collection The Organic Beauty, Blessy Ephraim has no time to celebrate months of backbreaking work.
This BSc graduate of Fashion and Apparel Design says, “Nature is the first thing that comes to mind when you say ‘pure.’ The bluebug fascinated me as an inspiration, so I set to work on its manifestation in fashion. I never sat down for a minute’s rest during this whole process. Coming from Kerala and not taking up either engineering or medicine, I had something to prove. Even now, I have begun work and have no plans of taking a break. It was great to win, but I want to keep it up.”
It is interesting how the concept of the pure called up rather different themes in different designers. Diploma holders Shruthi VK and Sunil PS are winners in their category for their collection Bold and Beautiful. A 24-year-old former merchandiser, Sunil explains, “The first thing I can think of when you say ‘pure’ is riding a Harley Davidson through the wind. A motorcycle is a thing of finesse – it is both Bold and Beautiful. So we portrayed this icon through our collection. It still feels unreal to see your creation on the runway, honestly.”
Sunil’s design partner Shruthi, on the other hand, had to transform her love for the indigenous styles of Ritu Kumar and Sabyasachi into bringing alive a line of westernwear! She says, “Over six months, we devoted ourselves to the collection and walked about the entire city, all day everyday, simply learning how to bring our inspiration to reality. Seeing that my earlier degree was in electronics, it was quite the departure from the norm!”
One of the youngest students to win is Krithika Venkatesh, who along with Swetha Prabhakar, Kavya Shree, Suma C, and Madhu Yannam gave sartorial edge to the Avengers! The 21-year-old says, “Age of Ultron was yet to release when we chanced upon the potential of using the Avengers as inspiration. Leather and lycra to give clothes a 3D effect and even used car seat belts for Hawkeye! The greatest challenge was using cups to sew up a costume that would represent Hulk’s muscles – that took almost an entire day!”
