Imagine a fight of fancy to Palais de la Zahia, home to the Dutch actress and ’60s fashion icon Talitha Dina Getty — “a Mediterranean gemstone, reminiscent of her hedonistic lifestyle and signifying all things effortlessly stylish, yet a heady mix of classic European chic”. Fancy wrapped up in some whimsy, comfortable and chic — that in a nutshell is AMPM’s autumn-winter collection called Zahia.

With an art collaboration in tow, AMPM’s Zahia is a sartorial souvenir, and as creative director Priyanka Modi puts it, it is indeed a campaign wherein “art precedes reality”. Excerpts from a chat with her:

Zahia looks like a Mediterranean postcard full of fun fashion. What prompted you to take a flight of fancy to Morocco?

This year, destinations are but a thought away. While experiencing the luxury of travel is restricted, every picture the mind paints is just as real.

Continuing our whimsical African dream from spring-summer earlier this year, Moroccan art and architecture remained a recurring source of inspiration for me. Palais de la Zahia, home to the ’60s fashion icon Talitha Getty, is a Mediterranean gemstone that is reminiscent of her hedonistic lifestyle, an effortlessly stylish, yet heady mix of classic European chic. Its sculpted arches and bannisters, doorways engraved with intricate foliage, vibrant colours and curvilinear art served as inspiration for our autumn-winter collection, that is enriching yet intimate.

With the Zahia campaign, we decided to take a leap of imagination through a dreamy retelling of a day in Morocco. Spending a day under the sunlit Casablanca skies, blue and brimming with possibilities; stretched afternoons in vineyards with musky purpling grapes surrounded by a surreal calm; strolling by the archways in Marrakech at dusk.

Tell us about the mood board for this collection — what was your design inspiration and what sort of techniques and silhouettes found place in it?

Drawn richly from Mediterranean influences, Zahia, in particular, features even more comfortable silhouettes than we usually provide, considering most parties this season will have fewer people and hence mostly seated. Think effortless and versatile separates along with one of my favourite silhouettes from the collection — the classic AMPM pre-draped sari.

We designed parts of this collection during the pandemic, so attention to the details of comfort and wearability were of utmost importance.

I often find it easy to express myself through the AMPM artistry. A reinterpretation of dreamy landscapes in our motifs, we decided to further elevate our prints with the use of intricate techniques like thread embroidery and subtle gold applique.

Given the times, how does the label look at festive fashion?

There is a new-found intimacy to festivals this year. People intend to celebrate but in much smaller groups. We were very mindful of that whilst designing Zahia. If you view the collection in its entirety, you’ll find that we increased our use of print and kept embroideries as highlights.

I, and AMPM through me, have always believed in delivering effortless and versatile designs that continue to stay relevant over time and across occasions. I have observed that offering a minimal design language holds a more meaningful place in the wardrobe of the modern millennial woman.

You have also done an art-collab for this campaign. Tell us about it.

Honestly, everything has been so surreal about this year that it was important to me that we captured it in our communication.

In collaboration with artist and photographer Pranoy Sarkar, we created a series with actual pieces of art that are otherworldly — thoroughly imaginative and evocative. These three-dimensional composition ‘paintings’ echo the essence of these times and the lucid subjects portrayed, seemingly coming to life where spaces, objects and ideas oscillate between the real and unreal, just like a mirage.

I like to think of our concept as something where ‘art precedes reality’ so to speak and I think it captures this moment perfectly.

Pictures: AMPM