What could the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland possibly have in common with a contemporary collection of cotton dresses, created by a fashion designer based in Anna Nagar? Nothing, you would think. But sister duo, Divya and Navya Niranjan who handle their brand Blueprint show us that with a little bit of fabric soul searching, anything is possible.
“Honestly I still haven’t watched the movie yet,” reveals Divya, half of the designer sister-duo, based in Chennai. She goes on, “But we were thinking of top hats and then that just led to the Mad hatter.” Over a series of e-mails and Skype calls with older sister Navya who resides in California, and numerous internet searches for Johnny Depp and his whimsical bright costumes in the movie — an idea for a desi line of women’s dresses was slowly carved out.
Inspired by the fantasy characters — lots of prints, colours and layering have been used. “And keeping in mind the dual shades of the Mad Hatter, we’ve created a couple of dresses where dark and light shades are side by side,” explains Divya. Simple, you say? Not quite. The clothes have two layers to the exact same pattern — half made with a print and the other half using richer handwoven thread work — and the end effect is rather sophisticated. “Also, this way – with only partial thread work, the cost of the outfit is brought down considerably,” she reasons.
Watch out for funky jackets, chinese collar necklines and smart cuts to add to the overall appeal of the collection. We’re not quite sure that Johnny Depp would ever consider his character from the movie wearing one of these pretty numbers, but truth be told, he did inspire them.
(The Mad Hatter collection, priced between Rs 1,700 to Rs 5,000, will be launched on Thursday. For details, contact 9884068691)