The Mumbai Atelier That is Designed Costumes For Nicole Kidman

Mumbai:

Sitting in a lotus place, 4 males weave glittering beads by means of gold thread on an organza sheet, fastidiously developing a marriage gown that may quickly wow crowds at Paris Trend Week.

For as soon as, the French couturier behind the design, Julien Fournie, is set to place these craftsmen within the highlight: his new assortment, exhibiting in Paris on Tuesday, is solely made with materials from Mumbai.

He says a kind of “design imperialism” implies that French trend homes typically play down the truth that their materials are made exterior France.

“The homes which do not admit it are maybe afraid of shedding their clientele,” Fournie instructed AFP.

However that’s absurd, he continued.

“India is primary on the earth in embroidery. It is ancestral. They have been dressing maharajas in gold-embroidered outfits for the reason that sixteenth century.”

Fournie works with an organization referred to as Creations By Shanagar (that means “to adorn” in Sanskrit), housed in a non-descript beige constructing close to Mumbai’s worldwide airport.

Dozens of males in gray polo shirts sit cross-legged on cushions, heads bent over giant sheaths of material. There’s silence however for the click of needles and beads, the whirl of ceiling followers, and the occasional aircraft overhead.

– ‘Numerous fantasy’ –

For many years, they’ve performed an important however unsung function within the trend industries of Europe, Japan and the USA.

“I like working with Julien as a result of he’s one other grasp craftsperson who is aware of his topic very nicely,” stated director Chetan Desai, 55.

“He has numerous fantasy. He comes up together with his personal ideas and I’ve to translate these concepts into embroidery.

“It has been a really difficult expertise and on the identical time, it has been very fruitful,” he added.

Again in France, Fournie sends the compliments again.

“What they know the best way to do higher than anybody is to embroider with degraded gold thread, passing it by means of clear beads to create color gradients. It is unprecedented,” he stated.

It provides silk an aged, elegant search for wedding ceremony clothes that “shine, however not an excessive amount of”.

“High fashion clients do not need to seem like a Christmas tree,” he added.

“I’ve labored with nice French embroiderers and every time it is difficult. Everybody needs to place in their very own concepts and also you by no means get precisely what you need.”

– Star shoppers –

Desai’s father arrange Creations By Shanagar within the Nineteen Sixties as a workshop for handloomed and embroidered saris.

Within the Nineteen Nineties, Desai appeared additional afield to France, partnering with Franco-Tunisian designer Azzedine Alaia on clothes that finally graced the likes of Naomi Campbell.

He doesn’t expose the present shoppers on his books however his previous roster provides a way of the excessive demand. They embrace Jean Paul Gaultier, Yohji Yamamoto and Donna Karan.

Even Hollywood got here knocking, with Shanagar serving to design Nicole Kidman’s costumes for the 2001 hit “Moulin Rouge!”.

The atelier attracts employees from throughout India, comparable to Biswajit Patra, 31, who has been working right here since he was 16.

“I discovered the commerce in my village close to Kolkata as a result of my father was doing the identical job and my brother and sister are additionally doing this job,” he stated.

Amongst their distinctive concepts is a method of rolling up items of tulle to make embroidered flowers.

“They’ve a variety of methods that we do not have right here,” stated Jean-Paul Cauvin, director of Fournie’s home in France.

One of the crucial delicate jobs is making ready the material as soon as it arrives from India and heads for the workshop the place it is going to be assembled into the clothes.

It’s Fournie himself who irons out the material.

“Sixty p.c of high fashion is ironing,” he stated with a smile.

(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)