“And the white magnolia grew and grew, holding our love within its core, and every year it bloomed anew,” Australian singer Kandiah Kamalesvaran ( popularly known as Kamahl)/ Kamahl’s popular lines resonated across the auditorium in a plush hotel in the city recently, when the audience was overwhelmed at the sight of Magnolia blossoms in the background. Models were dressed up in bridal outfits with pretty white/ baby pink Magnolia flowers gracefully sitting on some of them, truly strengthening the idea of better bonding with flower giving at weddings.
In an e-mail interview to DC, Vaani Raghupathy Vivek, the woman behind the Thalia collection, shares her thoughts on Magnolia being commonly associated with purity and dignity.
“Magnolia means stability and grace through the ever-changing times, and that is what has influenced our collection today. Magnolia often symbolises the Yin or the feminine side of life. Magnolia is for the modern woman who is soft , pretty and delicate on the outside but strong, fierce , cultured and deep-rooted.”
The designer whose work principals are heavily influenced by her clients’ preferences, body type and colour, wins a brownie point as she intelligently blends comfort with elegance. “In general my collections are very light, breezy and yet colourful, and I play with texture too. That’s what makes it comfortable for my brides.”
Vaani picks flowy materials including light weight cottons like mull, silk organza silk Georgette and silk chiffon as she believes they help accentuate her ideas as a designer. Talking about young generation and their growing preferences for handloom saris, Vaani says, “ This needs to be appreciated. It’s always good to promote sustainable clothing. We’re also planning a bridal collection on sustainable clothing.”
The designer also gives an insight into the ongoing trends in the Indian wedding scene. “Our brides are very experimental, when it comes to their D- Day- like jacket for saree, long jackets for lehenga, ruffle sleeve, saree with belt matching the sequenced blouse. Couple outfits that match the fabrics of the bride with that of the groom have also become a trend.”
Talking about her collection Thalia and how she manages to ease the way for solid colour blocking to go hand in hand with pastel hues and then embrace immaculate weaving technique, the designer reveals, “In all our previous
collection we have worked on complete pastels. So, for this collection we decided to challenge ourselves to do solid colour with floral prints in simple silhouettes.”
The city never ceases to inspire Vaani who has designed for actors including Nikki Galrani, Aishwarya R. Dhanush among others .
“Chennai being a tropical city, it always has a wide spectrum of colours - right from summer pastels to bright pops - things are balanced perfectly to bind the novelty of the season while exemplifying the quirky contrast. Since I’m born and brought up here, Chennai has always been close to my heart. The culture, the people and the city has always been very versatile and that’s how it has inspired my collection,” she says.
