BENGALURU: Western designers customising apparels for Indian princes; legendary actor Rajesh Khanna’s guru collar and kurta shirts; the wide range of shawls from Kerman (Iran) to Kashmir.
A reading room set-up at Ffolio, a hi-fashion retail store in the city, is offering its shoppers a deep dive into the history of fashion.
Curated by Ffolio in collaboration with Papertrail, a pop-up photobook library and reading room, the store is now displaying a series of photobooks on fashion and art that give a sneak-peek into how fashion has evolved over the years – from the fields of feudal rule to Bollywood and the changes in styles brought about during the pandemic.
According to Yashodhara Shroff, founder of Ffolio, these photobooks are a pictorial representation of fashion dating back to centuries.
“These are rare books that give an account of the old fashion style that was in sync with India’s heritage. It will be an eye-opener for upcoming fashion designers to learn. It’s also an attempt to create a public discourse on various fashion trends and shed light in the minds of clients and designers alike on fashion, textile and photographs in general,” says Shroff.
On September 15, Ffolio also organised an event, inviting authors to give the shoppers a glimpse into some of their works.
Kaamna Patel, author of Dori, who was present at the event, says, “The store has come out with the concept of a photobook which is a special ecosystem in itself. Dori is a photobook exploring the relationship between my grandparents through archived images of the houses. The book is also wrapped in my grandmother’s fabric.This is to help the readers understand the generation gap and the struggles they underwent during those days,” says Patel, a visual artist based in Mumbai.
Other books on display include 100 Iconic Bollywood Costumes by Aparna Ram and Sujata Assmull that trace the evolution of fashion in the cinema industry.
From yesteryear classics like Mughal-E-Azam to recent releases like Chennai Express, the book delves into how fashion designers were influenced by Western and Middle-Eastern outfits.
Similarly, Made for Maharajas by Amin Jaffeer is a book on how Indian kings were highly influenced by European cultures to satisfy their appetite for luxury goods.
Another book titled Fake Encounter by Rohit Saha is a photobook documenting the unrest in Kashmir, while Flexing Muscles by Ravikumar Kashi explains the flex banner culture in Bengaluru stretching from politics to cinema.
The reading room is open to the public at Ffolio, Vittal Mallya Road, till September 22. For more details, call 080-41246053