Textile has been time and again used as a canvas where designers, inspired by various aspects of nature and life, have brought to us wearable art. Designer Kanika Jain has  undertaken one such initiative in her forthcoming Spring-Summer collection which will be showcased at the Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2019.

Inspired by the works of the artist Azuma Makoto, a Japanese florist and a botanical sculptor, Jain’s collection titled Mystic Meadows: Holding flora in time, represents the beauty of his iconic works like Iced Flowers, Drop Time, Gaibu – Outside and Naibu – Inside. Elaborating further, Jain says, “Mystic Meadows is a collection that was inspired by the artworks of Makoto. The collection embodies romanticism through its beautiful patterns and mysticism through its interesting silhouettes. The use of various handcrafted textiles with captivating embroideries makes the thought process behind the collection come alive.”

For Jain, nature has been a source of inspiration for her previous collections too. But how she stumbled over Makoto’s work? “Makoto’s work came to my sight when I started to study more on flowers and flora. I was so intrigued by his work that I started to look at various other projects that he has worked on. It was very inspiring to see how he depicts his artwork through living things such as flowers. That, I think, I can say was my deciding point to create wearable pieces of art on this concept,” says Jain who will be returning to the runway post her showcasing Blue-Jean Baby at the New York Fashion Week in September 2018.

Derived from Makoto’s Iced Flower project, Jain depicts the changing aspect of flowers suspended, imprisoned and set within crystal-like blocks of ice in the collection. As the ice starts melting, each blossom changes its form and this delicate beauty has been interpreted through intricate and minute 3D applique embroidery in several pieces  to bring out the flower in its real form.The colour palette of the collection consists of ivory, blush pink,mahogany, mustard and aqua.

The motifs have all been designed based on various flowers finally being used in different placements on fabrics. Jain has also used intricate and minute 3D embroidery in several pieces.

Talking about the various silhouettes and textiles used, Jain says, “The silhouettes incorporated in the collection are asymmetric lengths to structured shifts and handkerchief drapes. You will see reversible coats to flared pants etc along with frills. The textiles used are handwoven linen, chanderi, khadi, silk organza and cotton.”

Story behind the collection

Inspired by the works of the artist Azuma Makoto, a Japanese florist and a botanical sculptor, designer Kanika Jain’s collection titled Mystic Meadows: Holding flora in time, represents the beauty of his iconic works like Iced Flowers, Drop Time, Gaibu – Outside and Naibu – Inside.