ACE designer Tarun Tahiliani’s show at Gurugram set the wheels in motion for the Blenders Pride Fashion Tour 2018 whose theme was ‘Pride’. Tahiliani’s collection My Blend, My Pride is a resonance of a lot of work and thinking over years of combining traditional cultures with western tailoring.
Talking about what inspired him, Tahiliani shares, “I love the idea of Indian pride and as we have changed and morphed as a society, I love the identity of a new blend which is what people like me have truly become because we were born and brought up in India but speak English, t r avel the globe.
Fortunately, in my case I also wo rk ve r y closely with Indian craft that is connected to our culture for thousands of years and out of this comes a new blend of human lifestyle.” D i s h a Patani was the showstopper of the evening. For his collection, the designer used Italian tulle, chikankari, foil crinkles, Kanjeevaram brocades, Lamé and Ikats.
For the designer, modern India is an old culture that has existed for thousands of years, has had many influences, many foreign invasions and now a global invasion of ideas through social media. “All these influences create a new world, it creates a new millennial, it creates a new way of thinking, it creates a new way of engagement and my fashion has this very essence in it.
The silhouettes combine western notions of cut, construct and finish but using Indian heritage and c r a f t s m a n - ship,” shares Tahiliani. Blenders Pride Fashion Tour 2018 will be travelling across three different cities in India. Next on the list are Hyderabad, Mumbai and Kolkata, on December 14, January 12 and 20 respectively.