Late designer Satya Paul has crafted a legacy of illustrative prints with his eponymous label. This time the label—helmed by creative director Rajesh Pratap Singh—has come up with its latest Autumn Winter 2022 collection, ‘New Order’. This disruptive collection resonates with the beliefs of the Art Nouveau movement. The edit manifests practicality over form with athleisure ensembles like saris, kaftans, etc. We talk to Rajesh about the collection.
How does Art Nouveau inform your design?
‘New Order’ is inspired by the Art Nouveau movement, which was a powerful reaction to the formalism and strict categories that organised existing art institutions in the early 1900s; it emerged as a resistance. Symbolised by the curvaceous, disobedient line, the work of famous artists Gustav Klimt, Alphonse Mucha, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec demanded a return to nature. The movement shook things up, reminding us that we are not automated machines.
One of the key design motifs in the ‘New Order’ is the use of artistically-interpreted faces. Each face we created is the team’s collective imagination of what the world and its people would look like if there were no borders and if the conversation flowed unhindered. Since our brand DNA is all about colour and prints, one may see plenty of them with dynamicity. The collection is a collage of references, which came through these prints.
What does the edit’s name mean?
‘New Order’ was and is a reaction to all that is going around—a reflection and response to the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It is focused on the voice of today’s youth and how they feel.
Do you still feel athleisure is a rising trend?
I think one of the things the pandemic has taught everyone is that fashion, too, needs to be defined by comfort. With a blurring of lines between home and the workplace, people’s ideas of what to wear and where has also changed. Athleisure is the middle point that covers you from a meeting to a trip to an evening out with friends. Moreover, comfort is at the very centre of all our designs.
What shift has the pandemic brought in people’s preferences?
The pandemic has changed each and every person and humanity as a whole. It has taught us to come closer to nature and learn from it. Human beings used to think they were invincible, but COVID-19 has changed that perception dramatically. Now, people have learnt to value life more.
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