As one of the top-billed names on the Indian fashion circuit, Ritu Kumar’s duties run beyond the usual creation and fashioning. The designer prides herself on her role as a facilitator, discovering stolen pockets of India’s textile creativity and then restoring them to their former glory.
“If I had to write about a polka-dotted lycra dress, I don’t think I could get beyond one sentence. Nothing contemporary comes anywhere close to the sheer glamour of the way old saris were conceived: rich silks against the gold and silver woven into the warp and weft of a six-yard length of cloth [to produce] the dhoop-chhaon [effect]—threads aimed to shoot through shadows and light to catch the essence of the Ganga-Jamuna,” she admitted to us.
That natural fabrics would monopolise her Spring/Summer ’17 collection shouldn’t come as a surprise. Keeping her tunnel vision trained squarely on sustainability, Ritu has worked in texture with elements like banana, soy bean and linen yarns. The result is a vintage, lightweight range of saris that you know will look just as good at work as for a formal occasion.
Ritu Kumar’s natural fabric S/S ’17 collection
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