India not a fashion, but a textile country: Designer Pratima Pandey

New Delhi Oct 14 (IANS) Designer Pratima Pandey who has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian government to support weavers of the country feels that India has a lot of options in textiles and crafts and wants people to understand that "we are not a fashion country but a textile one".

Pratima of the brand Pramaa works with some of the weavers in and around India. She says that as a responsible designer she understands why it is important to promote weavers and textile and give them the right platform. "We are not a fashion country we are textile country... a country which celebrates whatever we do so let that happen. Fancy is great but this (weaving) is also an art " the designer told IANS on the sidelines of the ongoing Amazon India Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2018 where she showcased her collection titled Leela . "There are things that we have to know that we have it. It s just that now we need to go out and tell the world that we already have it so please don t hamper it " she added. Her brand specialises in fusion garb with Indian sensibilities and the emphasis of the label is on the natural fabric and natural dying techniques along with designing for a cause by encouraging craftsmanship and sustainability. Talking about her journey in the industry she said: "When you are a graduate (of NIIFT) then obviously you are looking for something to work on and I just knew that I have to work with Indian textiles." "I started with bhagalpuri silk then went on to chikankari and then regular silk. One season I had no money so one of my friends came as a blessing in disguise. He said Listen I just shut down my place and I have lot of chanderis with me. I think you will do justice . I remember him showing to me lots of chanderis that were kept in his car." "It was like I had no money to buy textile but the textile came to me. I think sometimes the fabric finds you. If you pick up something then master it. I think you can become master of something only if you try to reinvent it everytime " she added. The designer also feels that Indian people "very strangely" understand the taste of chanderis and other weaves but they don t know how to find it. "And this is when we come in very handy. As a textile chanderi wasn t very popular when I started off." "I just signed an MoU with the government to uplift Indian textiles. I said I am an expert in chanderi . They asked me to go beyond that so I started using maheshwari " she said. (Nivedita can be contacted at nivedita.s@ians.in) --IANS nv/nn/vm