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Samantha, Shilpa Shetty to Alia Bhatt: REGAL celeb looks in outfits by Designer of the week: Kshitij Jalori
In a tete-a-tete with the designer of the week, we speak to Kshitij Jalori about what goes behind the making of a weave, reinventing traditional weaves and more.
A graduate of NIFT Delhi, Kshitij Jalori started his label in 2018 and it seems like an uphill journey since then for him. Despite being elegant, his outfits are known for their sharp and structured cuts with motifs of everything from travel, architecture to nature on his garments, making for the perfect amalgamation of traditional and modern.
In a tete-a-tete with the ace designer, we talk about what goes behind the creation of a weave, his first-ever bridal collection and much more.
As a textile designer, we are first curious about what goes into the making of a traditional weave. It isn't as easy as it looks, says Jalori who took the first two years to develop his initial collections with brocade. "And even now the brocade weaves that we work with are planned a year or two in advance, since it takes that much time from converting designs conceived on paper to actual fabric," since it involves decisions like the weaving technique that needs to be used on what fabric. "It could be either Kadhwa, Phekwa or Katarwa depending upon whether we want to develop the design in Mashru, satin, Tanchoi or just a piece of plain fabric. Simultaneously, we develop our own real zari for our classic sarees and dupattas and hence deciding which quality of zari to use and the count of yarn. A lot of technical details really. So conceiving the design is only the initial part but really transferring the same from paper to fabric is what takes a lot of time and planning," shares the designer.
Designer Kshitij Jalori
Alia Bhatt in a Kshitij Jalori saree
Samantha in a brocade creation by Kshitij Jalori
Shilpa Shetty in a velvet lehenga by Kshitij Jalori
With his extensive work in weaves especially, the designer has also managed to reinvent the traditional weave in every sense. To him, it is mostly the research that goes into his work keeping in mind cultural relevance and patterns created to narrate a story that lies in the middle of every collection. "We have incorporated traditional techniques like Urtoo (the weave detail of each motif) or creating a new textile, like the cashmere brocade. Also, I think we are constantly trying to develop a new language of brocades that pertains to the narrative of each collection. We do not believe in replicating old textiles, rather we consistently work on developing newer narratives around traditional techniques," Jalori says.
For his weaves, the designer has mainly dabbled with Benarasi brocades and zardozi but is keen on experimenting more in the future. "Textiles like Chikan, Phulkari, Pashmina, Jamdani etc are definitely what we want to work with," Jalori muses.
Karisma Kapoor in an ethnic outfit by Kshitij Jalori
Malaika Arora in a pantsuit by Kshitij Jalori
Vidya Balan in a colourful saree by Kshitij Jalori
He even just launched his first-ever bridal collection and revealed that we can also expect him to delve into swim and resort wear as well this summer! When it comes to designing bridal wear, Jalori tells us that he purposely stayed away from delving into bridal wear for so long. "I wanted to take the time to understand our strengths, define a brand language and aesthetic and only then move forward with a clear vision of what we believe bridal should be. The first collection is essentially ventured around the Qajar dynasty and their art but also has references from other collections that we have worked on previously," he gushes.
Now that designer collaborations are big all over the world, we are curious about who he would want to collaborate with if he could. More than designers, Jalori asserts that he'd want to explore more areas of interest like, "Maybe develop a line of furniture, jewellery, accessories, home goods and furnishings. I am essentially a textile designer, so I think we can definitely put a textile perspective into all the above categories."
What are your thoughts on the designer's collections? Comment below and let us know.
