The IIS University

Department of Fashion and Textiles

VASTRA – 2017

Date: 23 September, 2017

Activity: Vastra, 2017

Event Coordinator: Dr.  Radha Kashyap,  Ms. Aman Deep Kaur & Ms. Garima Tiwari

The Department of Fashion and Textile Technology organised a visit to the 6^th edition of VASTRA – International Textile and Apparel Fair 2017 on 23^rd September, 2017 at Jaipur Exhibition and Convention Centre, Sitapura Industrial Area, Jaipur. Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Ltd. (RIICO) organised the trade event in association with the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce Industry (FICCI). The event was coordinated and guided by Dr. Radha Kashyap, Ms. Aman Deep Kaur and Ms. Garima Tiwari. There were in total 25 students from the Department of Fashion & Textles, who were visited to the exhibition.

The event started with the welcoming of guests and top notch designers Prasad Bidapa, Rohit Kamra, Pooja Arya. The session featured the Fabric of Freedom – KHADI. It put in spotlight the safeguards to preserve the Gandhian legacy of valuing Khadi to protect handloom weavers and the cultural heritage of this industry from the encroachment by its evil twin the powerlooms and the mill sector. Moreover, the sustainable aspect of Khadi was also highlighted.

The next session was centered on the textile cultures of the North East. The topic discussed by TEXTILE AND TRADITIONS FOR NORTH EAST: CHALLANGES & OPPORTUNITIES. It was presented by the NID team who undertook a journey to the North Eastern states of Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh and interacted with the indegenious communities in a bid to document their traditional textiles, designs and socio-cultural practices. One part of the country that is still quite untouched by the vagaries of modernity is Northeast India; in fact the powerful craft tradition of weaving has played a predominant role in shaping the economic as well social life of people in the region.

RIICO & FICCI organised Sari Draping Workshop by Ms. Rta Kapur Chishti of The Sari School, Delhi. This was the first time that Vastra organised sari draping workshop and it was carried out successfully.

In the current melange of high-street labels and fast fashion, the need of hour is to beshield the rich textile traditions of India with their interpretation of age-old weaves. Therefore, in the unique endeavour to revive the beauty of Rajasthan’s heritage textiles and the glory of Khadi, VASTRA organised a Fashion Show wherein designers came in unison to revel the handloom assets of the country. The runway bloomed with the designs of dabu prints reflecting the theme ‘Modern Mahatma’ by Hemant Trivedi, revival of Kota Doria into shirts, dresses, the spell bounding block printed hounds tooth version of Khadi mirrored in Rohit Kamra’s collection, the sustainable edge was also seen in Abraham and Thakur who processed old Khadi and ornamented it with Kantha.

There was enormous number of stalls that displayed their traditional stuff to the customers and their clients as well. Mostly the stalls were of Rajasthan which had variety from Kota Doriya sarees to Bhandej turbans. They even had a live counter where block printing was being performed to showcase the intricacy of the process and the design. Kota Doriya stalls had a variety of sarees which were not only had authenticated sarees but also had blend with traditional Paithani sarees. There were numerous stalls varying from Madhubani paintings to Worli sarees and wall hangings to embroidered fabric pieces. This visit was a great adventure for the students of fashion industry who have been in search of traditional textiles and hand woven fabrics.

The visit to the trade exhibition was an enlightening experience for all the students in terms of their responsibility as a designer and as the custodians of the Earth. The students learnt that as the future of the country it is their responsibility to preserve the dying handloom industry. The designers can make concentrated efforts to pitch India as a global sourcing centre for all hand woven fabrics, and make handloom India’s niche contributor to the international fashion industry. Altogether it was a very enriching experience for all the students and also for the faculties.

Prof. RadhaKashyap

Head

Department of Fashion and Textiles