RAASMANCH HOUSE OF THREE
Inspired by the change of consumer behaviour post-pandemic, the label showcased their diffusion line called Dravida that features cultural, architectural and anecdotes from the Southern states of India alongside their classic collection Kalgi that symbolised secularism. “We have always focussed on sustainable outfits and our collections tell stories of inclusivity and diversity,” said Sounak Sen Barat and Anu Shyamsundar, co-founders. While Sounak sported Dravida, Anu was in Kalgi.
CORD
Vintage era was the inspiration for this Delhi-based brand’s new collection starting from art and paintings for its prints to design detailing like puffs and pleats on modern, functional, comfortable and wearable silhouettes. “TIS is a great platform as both budding and veteran designers come here. It is a good place to meet and interact with other designers and shoppers,” said Neha Singh and Pranav Singh, owners, dressed in Cord.
THE RIGHT SIDED
The jewel-tone handcrafted beaded and embroidered bags from this New-Delhi-based six-year-old brand were crowd-pullers. “Shoppers are looking for brighter tones this season. All our designs are inspired from jewellery,” said Harshita Ashok Agarwal, owner and designer.
KESYA
Cute and colourful, we loved these buttons made out of sterling silver with hand painting or enamelling techniques. “Our speciality lies in reviving the old technique of enamelling and using semi-precious stones in buttons and cufflinks. This is our second time at TIS and we look forward to this platform every year,” said Divya Shekhwat and Shivangi Singh (left), owners.
AMRITA THAKUR
Based on a pretty pastel palette, the Delhi-based brand exhibited its signature classic kurta collection. “I like working on designs that are timeless that people can love and cherish always rather than following trends. Every city has its own designers but platforms like TIS give opportunities to designers from other cities to introduce their work to the audience here,” said Amrita Thakur, designer.
URVASHI KAUR
Jackets were a popular pick from this Delhi-based brand that displayed two of its collections this year. Ilahi, its upcycled festive collection featuring Benarasis and leheriyas on contemporary silhouettes and Masira, catering to the season with shibori printed woollen jackets and lots of black outfits. “Our signature effortless styles and separate versatiles come with a festive touch this year. I have noticed people are being a little price sensitive this year but our loyalists have come and picked their faves,” said Urvashi Kaur, founder, creator and director.
REIK
‘Quirky, bright yet wearable art’ was the motto of this three-year-old brand that showcased their autumn-winter collection Unhive 2.0 featuring abstract hand-screen printed floral prints in silk, satin and silk organza fabrics. “TIS is a very well-curated exhibition that allows us to understand consumer behaviour and their ever evolving tastes,” said Deepanshu and Sneha, co-owners. t2 loved this arty corner put up by REIK.
COSA NOSTRAA
The forte of this three-year-old Jaipur-based brand lay in its imported brass accessories. Their recent collection of jackets and shirts was an experimental launch featuring the brand’s signature accessories and was also designed with historical and literary references.
“Our brand is inspired from The Godfather and each of our outfits has a story. This is our first showcase at TIS and people’s interest in our products for wedding purposes has been huge,” said Tanuj Vijay, business head.
STUDIO MEDIUM
This Delhi-based brand showcased its signature shibori, bandhni, tie-dye along with quilting and kantha stitches on contemporary silhouettes like kaftans, dresses and saris with sleeves, an interesting silhouette style. “We are a regular at TIS and this year along with our signatures, we are showcasing an upcycled range too made with our own scraps,” said Riddhi Jain, owner, sporting one of her creations.
TORAMALLY
This Lucknow-based footwear brand showcased their signature bespoke collection of hand-painted leather shoes that is also hand welted and hand lasted. “Coming back to TIS is like coming back home. This year we showcased a very fresh collection with new styles and shapes for our Calcutta loyalists so that they could come back to experience something new from the brand,” said Rahul Shastri, founder and designer.
Rangmanch
“It’s always nice to come back to Calcutta and participate at The India Story. It is one of the earliest cities that had brushes with the West, the business community is clear about what they want to wear, Indian home-grown brands, they follow their designers and are always looking out for what’s new. The event is one of the best in the country, it has a fine curation of home-grown brands and they bring in a certain fervour which is good,” said Nitin Bal Chauhan
This red and black piece from his NEAVUS collection, “inspired by Jallianwala Bagh massacre”, grabbed a lot of attention.
Fashion label Jajaabor “draws inspiration from their travel stories” and the concept had many takers at TIS. The stall was full of colours. Think red, yellow, orange and blue. We loved their latest festive collection, Bon Bibi. “This is the third time we are doing it and The India Story has always been fantastic and we actually look forward to participate,” said designer Neelanjan Ghosh.
Wooden frames, tinted glasses to copper-plated clip-on hybrid eyewear, The Tribe had them all. And needless to say, Dinesh aka Kali was a happy man when we spoke to him on the final day. “The experience has been phenomenal! This year the lenses of our sunglasses were very popular,” said Kali while sporting shades from their collection.
Almost every second person at TIS was seen carrying a CAI Store packet. After several attempts we could finally speak to Dhanraj Minawala, the co-founder of the label. “This is the second time we are here. Calcutta has a standard taste, they love their embellishments, heels and not anything that’s basic and they have gone all out with buys that they can wear in the wedding season and parties!” said Dhanraj.
These black combat boots from Rhea Kapoor collab was a clear bestseller this season of TIS.
Leather jackets with studs, hand-painted on denim, sticker printed —Valkyre was one of the busiest stalls inside Rangmanch. “It’s great to see people from this part of the country say ‘oh nice!’ So you see it’s a universal thing and that’s what you need to inspire, a little push which can be little expensive but the whole touch-and-feel experience is great! said Arindam Bora, the man behind the brand.
This Drake Onto Better Things is just one of the coolest offerings that made us go ‘wow’!
For Silky Ahluwalia (right) co-founder of Chillosophy, this edition of TIS was hit! “We have done brilliantly than ever! First day was great and even today we had so many buyers. It’s a very well-organised event,” she said, gleefully.
Aseem Kapoor came geared up with many interesting pieces that included jackets, kaftans, mandala shirts, patti odhni, sandhi shirt sets and more. “One of my favourite picks from here would be a jacket that’s a collage of my entire season that has hand-painted stripes done by me during the lockdown. This has got Rajasthan, Kutch and a Western cut of an English jacket,” said the designer.
If you entered Rangmanch, there was no missing Isharya. The jewellery brand had guests spoilt for choice with their range of earrings, cuffs, rings, statement neckpieces and so on. We had our eyes on this stunning pair of gold-plated chaandbalis with polki-cut mirror work, and the cuff that was studded with Swarovski crystals.
What connects Raja Kumari, Shilpa Shetty, Ranveer Singh and Yami Gautam? They have all been spotted wearing Valliyan — a demi-fine jewellery brand launched in 2008. And at TIS, they were all about sheen. We loved these eye-catching pieces from their latest Allure collection.
Offering cool sneakers, hand-embroidered and hand-stitched with zardosi and gota patti, The Saree Sneakers was interesting. “We are totally into customising shoes with hashtags or initials written on them,” said Shruti Kasat, founder of the brand.
Vasundhara: Creative Jewelry was all about stunning, intricately carved pieces that had shoppers crushing. “I showcased a mixed collection of Indian destination jewellery as well as art jewellery — blown glass, ceramic, acrylic and 3D printed. This was my second time at TIS, I was really looking forward to it and since it was really good to see such a response after a long time,” said Vasundhara Mantri. Our fave pick from the lot? This stunning and versatile neckpiece. “This particular piece is inspired by navratnas. It’s a perfect statement piece that can be worn with Indian and western,” she said.
Son of a Noble Snob came with their The Modern Minimalist collection with lots of geometric cuts, minimal clothing and lots of linen. “The clothing line is inspired by art, we do a lot of sporty influences in our collection. We have also launched our women’s collection that’s brand new,” said Mani Shanker Singh of Son of a Noble Snob.
Making a debut at TIS this year was luxury soft furnishing brand Diva Riche that was a treasure trove for satin bedcovers, cushions and pillow cases in pastel palettes that blended luxury with a vintage essence.
With her mask on, there was no missing a busy Claudia Von Hansemann of CHV Studio sporting “an architectural piece”. “I was thinking of deconstruction, did several trials before it took shape. This is for women who really know what they want to wear. People here like to experiment because we were almost sold out on Day One,” said Claudia.
Pictures: Pabitra Das and B. Halder