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Fuel4Fashion

~ The official blog of Supriya Ghurye, a Freelance Fashion Designer & Brand Consultant helping international start up fashion labels and growing fashion brands to plan and create great products from concept sketches to final launch.

Fuel4Fashion

Tag Archives: Indian fashion

Origins of Fashion: Tie-Dye

05 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by Fuel4Fashion in Fashion History, Fashion Industry Processes

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Tags

apparels, fabric, fashion blog, fashion designers, fashion history, fashion illustrations, freelance fashion designer, garments, Indian fashion, Japanese Shibori, Thailand Mudmee, Tie dye

Tie-dye is a technique in which a garment is tied, folded or knotted in different ways and then dipped in organic or factory dyes to create patterns in the dyed fabric. While many associate the advent of tie-dye to the liberal culture of the hippies in the 60s, the process of tie-dye has been around for over a thousand years, with the first known instances of tie-dye garments dating to the 6th century in India, Japan and Africa.

Indian tie dyeIndian Bandhini (Courtesy: Indiamart)

shibori Japanese Shibori (Courtesy: Akemi Nakano Kohn) designs

Dyeing as a technique was known to prehistoric man, who used various plant extracts from leaves, bark, flowers, fruits and roots to colour garments. Folding, forming and knotting gave the dye a pattern based on the extent to which the dye penetrated. This created designs which were attractive. In India, one of the oldest form of tie-dye – known as Bandhini – is still found flourishing today. This involves tying the fabric with small knots to created dotted patterns on the cloth. Asian tie-dye techniques such as Shibori and Batik are also popular. The Chinese used tie-dye for garments from the 6th century, and called it “zha ran” or “jiao xie”. These were worn only by priests and nobility, signifying the value and importance given to this technique of garment production. The Japanese used tie dye as far back as 552 AD, and developed the Shibori style, in which certain areas were restricted from reaching the dye, through and intricate pattern of stitching, tying and folding using sticks, rocks, threads and rubber bands. They also used sumi dye to paint certain designs and patterns which became darker after dyeing as compared to the surrounding areas.

African Tie Dye FabricExamples of African tie-dye (courtesy: Tictoc)

Mudmee tie dye skirt from Mexicali BluesMudmee (Courtesy: Mexicali Blues) designs

Africa and places like Peru have also shown historical traces of tie-dyed fabric. In Africa, the Yoruba women of West Nigeria use indigo (a natural plant extract) to dye cloth in various hues, creating patterns of blue shades on the cloth, due to stitching and folding techniques. Ikat, originating in Asia, involves tie-dyeing the yarn of the warp or weft before weaving. Another popular technique known as Mudmee originates from Thailand and the Indochina region, and involves a slightly different style with more subdued colours, generally on a black background as compared to white for most of the other types.

hippie1Hippie tie-dye designs (Courtesy: Wheretoget.it)

hippie2Hippie tie-dye designs (Courtesy: Wheretoget.it)

Tie-dye became popular in the modern era through the hippie movement of the 60s, which popularised the making of home-made designs and patterns using psychedelic colours. It became synonymous with the liberal culture and freedom of expression, with artist like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin making it popular among the youth of that generation.

Tie dye design from house of hollandTie-dye designs from House of Holland (Courtesy: Whowhatwear.com)

Tie-dye designs from Tory Burch Tie-dye designs from Tory Burch (Courtesy: Whowhatwear.com)

miu miuTie-dye designs from Miu Miu (Courtesy: Whowhatwear.com)

Modern tie-dye is mass-produced and largely consists of tie-dye prints, since original tie-dye is difficult to consistently replicate. Designers such as Miu Miu, House of Holland and Tory Burch have made modern tie-dye designs popular among the premium set, reviving a style that has seen a drop in popularity over the last few decades. In spite of the acceptance of tie-dye even among premium fashion designers, it still remains the commoner’s ultimate expression of fashion freedom.


Supriya Ghurye is the founder and owner of Fuel4Fashion, the first virtual design studio that caters to new and upcoming fashion design labels with a diverse portfolio of design services. She is a member of the Cherie Blair Foundation’s Women Entrepreneurship Program and has over a decade of fashion industry experience with international labels and start-ups.


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Aside

My favorite fashion designer : Manish Arora

03 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by Fuel4Fashion in Colors & patterns, Styles & Trends

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Tags

Amrapali, apparels, blog, business, colors, concepts, creative, fabric, fashion designers, Fish Fry, freelance fashion designer, Indian fashion, London Fashion Week, Manish Arora, Paco Rabanne, Paris Fashion Week, PFW, trends

Manish Arora, is not someone who needs introduction in Indian or international ramp. He is cherished for his colorful and sparkling designs. Often called the Man with a mission to bring out the traditional Indian prints into the mainstream fashion Industry. Sometimes he impresses his viewers with kaleidoscopic patterns, sometime with beads but the one thing that is common in all his designs is that he does not like to restrain himself to the ordeal. Manish Arora grew to fame in 1997 when he launched his signature label with his name. He slowly started unraveling the true India at the ramp where his intelligent use of colors and traditional prints created his own personal identity.

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Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/k473jW
Manish Arora Signature style

Later he showcased his collection at the first India Fashion week and Hong Kong Fashion Week and showed his athletic appeal of colors and hues to the world. I personally love him for his wild portrayal of haute couture which along with the make-up gives an overall dramatic effect. He has his ways with colors and patterns and uses them to his advantage.

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Image courtesy: http://goo.gl/TRQKEl
Haute Couture for everyone

Later he started his another label with Reebok, MAC and Swatch called “Fish Fry” which, like its name cashed the authentic Indian colors.  Manish Arora being known for his unrestraint paintbrush, this time with “Fish Fry” became more colorful and gave confirmation to his style. He gave more loud and raunchy collection which carries his statement of classy with sassy.

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Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/pzZuZU
“Fish Fry”

His playful attitude with colors and his keen vision of experimenting has made him not only my favorite but also of Spanish fashion house Paco Rabanne’ who hired him as its creative head. But after leaving it, Arora was kidnapped by Amrapali in 2012 to launch their jewelry line called India Enchanted. In August 2013 Manish Arora trotted into the coveted line of Indian bridal dresses.

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Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/LcHgol
Manish Arora Bridal Collection

Check out few looks from Manish Arora’s Spring Summer 2014 collection.

Look from Manish Arora’s SS’14 collection.
Image courtesy : http://goo.gl/vPQDVJ

Look from Manish Arora’s SS’14 collection.
Image courtesy : http://goo.gl/oR1tmQ

Look from Manish Arora’s SS’14 collection.
Image courtesy : http://goo.gl/uXsGCt

2

Look from Manish Arora’s SS’14 collection.
Image courtesy : http://goo.gl/WPDB8c

What is your most favorite element of Manish Arora’s style? Tell me in the comments section.

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Indian fashion Industry: Part 3

15 Saturday Feb 2014

Posted by Fuel4Fashion in Fashion History, Styles & Trends

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Tags

apparels, blog, colors, creative, fabric, fashion, fashion blog, fashion illustrations, fashion world, freelance fashion designer, handloom fabric, Indian designers, Indian fashion, Indian Fashion Industry, pattern, prints, surface embroideries, tech pack, traditional prints, trends

In the previous posts, Part 1 & Part 2,  we talked about the development of Indian fashion world, in this last and final post of the series we will let you all know how the fashion industry of India evolved internationally. The ethnic appeal of the Indian traditional prints are alluring customers from all over the globe. To include the wider audiences designers are putting in a lot of effort.

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Grace at its best!
Image courtesy:http://goo.gl/WkCtNv

The use of style and embroidery is very smart in the above charming attire.  To join two globally separated audiences, designers have to look for inspiration. The traditional prints are added to create pleasing effects on variety of dresses.

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Old prints used modernly
Image Courtesy:http://goo.gl/IkV1Gf

The traditional work of laces and zari can do wonders. The different types of embroideries in India also change the face of any sober costume.  India practically is a warehouse of patterns and design which give immense opportunity to its designers to experiment.

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Beautiful embroiders to revolutionize fashion
Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/mbjex7

With the increasing trend of use of brighter colors in designs, Indian designers are trying to be more functional and bring in more folk and native embroideries together. The fabrics have also diversified giving more way to the Indian hand loom industry to grow. Handmade fabrics like wool and silk have a very charming appeal on the dresses. The unique thing about Indian fashion industry is that we don’t have to limit our self to use light shades of colors.  The traditional prints in India are usually bright-colored as they prefer to create a bold statement, boldly. For that reason designers have their palate full of colors.

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Beautiful zarodozi work on the border
Image courtesy:http://goo.gl/DhgQjA

Indian fashion industry has come a long way from being a demand manufacturing unit. New designers are setting the ramp on fire with their dazzling works. The audiences also love to experiment with the creative collections.  From my previous blogs, Part 1 &  Part 2, one can say that the Indian fashion world  have changed totally upside down but at its core it remains the same as earlier, being bold boldly.

Do you admire any famous Indian personalities for their sense of fashion? Let me know in the comments section.

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Indian fashion industry – Part 2

13 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by Fuel4Fashion in Fashion History, Prints & embroideries, Styles & Trends

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

apparels, block print, colors, fabric, fashion, fashion blog, fashion history, fashion illustrations, Indian fashion, Indian Fashion Industry, Lakme fashion week, Manish Malhotra, natural fabrics, paisley print, Ritu Berry, Ritu Kumar, Sabyasachi Mukherji, Tie dye, weavers

Indian fashion industry owes a lot to the ethnic culture of the country. Hope you must have read about it in the previous blog of this series – Part 1. In the year 2000 Lakme and IMG joined hands to provide a platform to the designers to show their talent to the world. Designers are adding creativity to Silhouette – ethnic and traditional garments to give their customers fresh quality.

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Suneet Verma collection 2005
Image courtesy:http://goo.gl/LFcrMi

sabyasachi-sotheby2

Collection by Sabyasachi Mukherji. Image courtesy : http://www.sabyasachi.com/

Fashion soon became a coveted trade and big fashion houses like Ritu Kumar, Ritu Beri and Manish Malhotra came into being. Fashion industry started celebrating colors, fabrics and formal ethnic accessories and soon Indian fashion gained western interest. Indian fashion industry is also known for its experiments with different types of natural fabrics. These different types of natural fabrics and prints which took over became the hot center of ‘fresh’ variety of fashion. Designers then started digging inside the country for more and more traditional prints and because of which hand looms also started getting importance. Also these designs provided a diversity to its customers.

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Manish Malhotra 2012 show
Image courtesy: http://goo.gl/0so8bi

Masaba at LFW 2011. Image courtesy: http://www.houseofmasaba.in/‎

Traditional prints are used big time to add more elements to the fashion industry. Folk prints like the Mandana painting of Rajasthan added variety to the fashion.

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Paisley Prints
Image courtesy: http://goo.gl/CaSVtN

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Mandana Prints of Rajasthan
Image courtesy:http://goo.gl/TclO6A

Anokhi 6 carving woodblock

Pattern is being carved out of teak to which vegetable dyes are applied during the block printing process.
Image courtesy : http://goo.gl/8B8wHN

The rich use of colors and prints fearlessly has differentiated Indian fashion from the rest of the world. Designers have boldly shed the so-called ‘image’ factor they had in the 90’s which restricted them from experimenting.

What do you think is the best element of this industry? Is it the variety that we have or the way we club our modern instincts with the older times or is it something else? Do tell me in the comments section. Also stay tuned for the next and final part on Indian fashion industry.

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