The Voice of Fashion
Abraham & Thakore: The Art of Reassembling
The Abraham & Thakore show as part of FDCI x Lakmé Fashion Week’s sustainable day gave meaning and material to style. Like a textured warm quilt
“I can’t tell you how difficult it is for me to tear myself away from my infant son. But it is work like this that pulls me. I also know it is work like this that will keep my son’s future safe,” said actor Dia Mirza, showstopper for the Abraham & Thakore show presented by R|Elan. Part of FDCI x Lakmé Fashion Week’s Sustainable Day at the ongoing phygital event at Mumbai’s Jio World Convention Centre, this was an on-ground show. Mirza’s sensitive and sentimental words summed up the warmth of reassurance that the collection titled ‘Assemble, Disassemble, Reassemble’ offered to the viewer.
But if textural goodness, and future-friendly correctness from the climate change and sustainability points of view, was one highlight (the clothes are made from R|Elan’s GreenGold fabric created from recycled PET materials), its striking fashion appeal was another. David Abraham and Rakesh Thakore are recognised in fashion communities across India and abroad as textile sensitive, contemporary design thinkers because they manage to mix simplicity, utility, modernity and meaning in their clothes. This bunch of easy sounding words can be incredibly complex to achieve in fashion. Or in life. Many of us, don’t even know what to do with a well-worn kurta, leave alone pairing style and thought.
A&T clothes mirror the present moment even as they are created from tailoring, weaving or embellishment ideas that have existed previously in the traditions and processes of Indian design. The designers approach style through a solution oriented attitude, but beneath it lies a compendium of ideas, ideology and cultural insights. The distillation of what they have in mind ends up in seemingly simple clothes, adaptable to regular smart wear with the potential to be really “styled up”.
‘Assemble, Disassemble, Reassemble’ puts all these arguments out there on the ramp, with a large, transparent circle as the central installation of the set, symbolising the circular economy the fashion industry wants to be a part of. Kantha, appliqué, sequins, threadwork techniques used on saris, loose fit pantsuits, long dresses, tunics, kaftans, deconstructed co-ord sets and a range of casual silhouettes formed this collection. The assemblage was visible, like open wiring and you could join the dots and connect the circuitry. The colours were autumnal—rusts, reds, greens of a forest tuning in to winter, intense maroons of festive October, earth tones, the bright orange of a ripe papaya and dull green of dry melon seeds. And unmissably, black and white—A&T signature colours where black smiles in white glee and white acquires depth and intensity. The saris were worn with nonchalance, high and low, a pallu somewhere styled as a dupatta. The pantsuits arrived cheerful and disengaged with tight fits. Glass bangles in hues contrasting to the clothes were stacked on the arms of models and the footwear was Japanese in style with platform sandals. Some styled with deep mauve stockings or red socks. Think geisha comes to Mumbai and stays for the fashion show.
Dia Mirza’s appliquéd loose maxi dress in black and white with red sleeve borders, was made from the leftovers of this recycled assemblage. Mera joota hai Japani, Yeh patloon Englistani, sar pe laal topi rusi, phir bhi dil hai Hindustani…I found myself humming the late actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor’s song from the 1955 film Shree 420 and felt the hug of a comfortable quilt from the past. Assemble, Disassemble, Reassemble.
Banner: Designers Rakesh Thakore and David Abraham with Dia Mirza
