Nomadic nirvana

The journey began when I first visited Rajasthan, where I documented crafts practiced in villages in and around the city of Bikaner. I was inspired by the crafts and the vibrant colours of the city. The use of colourful embroidery and leather trims along with unique tie –dye techniques, on playful silhouettes is what defines my casual wear collection. I went back to the heart of my inspiration, the city of Bikaner to get my fabrics developed by the craftsmen. Each piece is signed by them to honor craftsmen, in recognition of their work and to give the clothing the emotional personal connect. The places I visited and the people I met had a huge impact on me and changed my outlook towards life. My collection – Nomadic nirvana is my interpretation of this blissful journey.

Back To Bikaner

The site of decorated autos playing loud Rajasthani music, noisy markets with flamboyant colours and  the smell of freshly made Alu Bhujia could only mean one thing , I'm in Bikaner baby! wohooooo! I never thought that I would be sitting in Bikaner working on my final collection. It felt unreal and hard to believe. All of this was happening so fast that I had to stop for a second and breathe, just to take it all in . Coming back to Bikaner was a small thought that had crossed my mind the last time I was in this lovely city and a year later, here I am , one step closer to making one of my many dreams come true.

5 am at the Sarai Rohilla station in Delhi , waiting for my train to Bikaner .
Lays ! what would I ever do without you ? 

outside Bikaner station, loading the luggage onto an auto

Rangsutra - the NGO I interned with last year ,who introduced me to the craftsmen

Buying some of my fabrics from the market 

Streets of Bikaner

Street performers entertaining the crowd in the market

Ice cream wala ! 

What I saw everyday while walking to work

Make way for the Mr.Oont!

My lovely painted steel trunks <3  by far the best buy ! 

\                                     

Freshly made Bhujia 

                                         

What's not to love about the city. It's so diverting, just like every other Indian city is . Being here is the perfect change in environment that I need right now for me to focus on my collection. 

The Skinnydramaqueen Family !

Introducing the skinnydramaqueen family -

'Ms.PRI ' - MY DESIGN MENTOR
The one person who can control the "drama" in the skinnydramaqueen .  

'LADY LA LA ' - MY TECHNICAL MENTOR
guides me in developing my patterns and garment finishes 

Now that my design process and my mocks are over , I need a team of juniors assisting me in putting the rest of my collection together .

Introducing the perfect trio -

MISS CURLY LASHES
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'WILDCHILD24356'

'RUNWAY MARSHMELLOW'

And Last but not the least , Introducing the Sharma family

THE SHARMA FAMILY - MY BACKBONE <3

  BULLY BOB CAT ( a.k.a skinnydramaqueen ) , ATOM ANT , BIG HILDA , BUMSY AND BELLY 

Tick-Tock

The clock is ticking, with only 3 more days to go and a lot more pieces to be made in time for the toile jury. The requirement is to show 2 out of the 5 ensembles by the 11th but in my case I need to show all 5 ensembles if I want to be able get my fabrics dyed and embroidered from the craftsmen in Bikaner . Another reason why I think it is necessary to get done with my mocks is because it will give me a better idea as to what the collection will look like and give me more time to re-look at my collection. It is very crucial to spend time editing each of the pieces and figuring out how to find the right balance

While we are  in the flow of  being creative and sketching out designs we tend neglect the practicality and functionality of a garment. This is why the transition phase of the 2-D sketches into 3-D  garments is key in the development of a collection . Our sketches don't always indicate how one would wear the garment, what kind of fastenings to use , dart placements, style lines or the finishing of the garment. I don't mean to generalize , but this is what I have observed in the last 4 years of design school. For this reason , I need to get my mocks right so I dont waste time re-cutting and ripping my final fabric. So my game plan now, is to get as much done as I can in as little time as possible without compromising on the quality of work . That only means one thing, 'STITCH TILL YOU DROP!'

TOILE CORRECTIONS :marking the changes in the fit of the trouser
photo credit: Vimal Raj 

PATTERN MAKING IN MY PJ'S : cutting patterns at home on the floor to save time
photo credit: vaishnavi kumar 

MOCKS THAT I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON : The colours are not the final colours in my collection. I am just using similar fabrics to check the fall and fit of the garments

OOPSSIIEEE ! CHECK OUT THE MESS I CREATED IN THE PATTERN LAB THIS MORNING ! 

Wildchild24356, Ms.Pri and Lady Lala . Confused?? Then stay logged on and  find out more on my next post where I introduce the members of Skinnydramaqueen family ! <3

-skinnydramaqueen 

Sunday Shoot

Assisted blueprint collections with their look book shoot on Sunday. Sorry guys that's all I can say about it ,  Since the collection is yet to be launched. 

COLLECTION TEASER - Facebook post by Blueprint collections

Credits:

photographer : Sabyasachi Biswas
model: Karishma Rajani
designer : Navya  and Divya Niranjan

Lets Cut and Sew !

Now that my range is approved I can get started on my mocks. Before we make our final garments, we make test fits and mock garments that look exactly like the final garments, including the finishes and use fabrics similar to the fabrics of our final garments.

On the 11th of march we have our toile ( mock grament) jury, where we are required to show two complete ensembles out of which one gets selected to be actualized time for our brochure photoshoot. But in my case I intend on finishing all 5 mocks before the 11th as I have to leave for Bikaner to get my fabrics dyed and embroidered from the craftsmen themselves. I can chose to get it done here in Chennai , but it ruins the whole concept behind my inspiration. It is quite a task to be able to get done with all of that by the 11th , but I am going to use it to my advantage as I work best under pressure. so lets see how it all plays out.

I started with making my patterns on the 28th and  got done with most of my patterns today and started with tracing them out on fabric  . As of now I seem to be right on schedule but since Monday is a bandh due to some protests, the college labs will closed and I might lose out on a day's work.

NAP TIME ! - My classmate taking a power nap. sometimes we cannot help but fall asleep after pulling off continuous all nighters. 

PATTERN MAKING - me  drafting my patterns whilst listening to music  :)

CUTTING PATTERNS ON MOCK FABRIC

TEST FITS - I will have to make the necessary changes in the patterns, for the garments to fit right

- skinnydramaqueen

The Mind Block

Design development ! sigh! I really do dread sketching. My worst nightmare. People automatically assume that designers are really good at illustrations, let me tell you that it's not true at all. I have a huge mind block when it comes to this phase of my process. Though we have had classes on illustration I am not very skilled at translating my design ideas into sketches. It is a huge drawback because as a designer if I cannot convey my designs then there is no point. One of the main reasons the 'jury aftermath' phase dragged on for so long was because I couldn't sketch out my ideas and for a fourth year design student it puts me in a very embarrassing position. Not being able to sketch is what washes out my confidence the most. 

I believe that I can understand design and can analyse and interpret brands and their requirements, trends , fabrics , clients , and every other aspect of the process but completely fail to illustrate my ideas. I managed to sketch out 50 odd designs and after a quite a few pep talk sessions with my mentor, she got me  to let go of that mental block and select my range. The best part is my mentor knows when to let go and let me laze around and waste time for a bit because she also knows that eventually I  pull up my socks and work my butt off! But If she hadn't pushed me to select my range , I would have dilly dallied for a bit longer and lost out on crucial time.

MY RANGE 

I have tried my best to balance out the number of tie dye pieces, the number of knits, the embroideries , the leather and the shear fabrics. I should be able balance my range better once I get done with my mocks. I would rather spend more time editing my designs once I get done with the toile garments.

MY MINI STUDIO