Urban Nomad

Careful observation and curiosity about the world, society and culture form the core of creativity, while modernity pushes Sanchita Ajjampur beyond the boundaries of designing into a cross-cultural exploration that she expresses through her work. We caught up with clothing and accessories designer Sanchita for her views on fashion and her new collection.

Deconstruct your aesthetic and sensibility. My approach to fashion and design is more akin to conceptual art. I bring into play textural sensuality, shaping the decoration into an eloquent narrative and adding haute couture finishings to transform eclecticism. I set my own design vision and visual style and think of how to make my aesthetic perspective a reality, with a preference for feel-good, natural and eco-friendly materials. My designs embody my spirit of ‘urban nomad’, defined as a modern traveller and collector whose fashion style weaves dreams to master the mundane.

Tell us about your A/W ‘12 collection. This collection deepens the bond forged by fashion and art in a mix of avant-garde forms and modular pieces with a bold cut and feel, where utilitarian details and hi-tech arts and crafts create eye-catching counterpoints.  In a dimensional play of cuts, layers, textural expressions, kinetic elements and fluid visual patterns, the collection translates Japanese influences, Samurai aesthetics and Kabuki motifs into a contemporary idiom, while alchemies and innovative approaches create a continuum of coordinated opposites. The focus is on body shape, motion and functional ease.

What’s in store for in 2012? It’s a year that invites you to consider different realities and to explore contemporary cultures and lifestyles, and to get up close with science and technology. The future will celebrate the subtle idiosyncrasies and local nuances that define a culture in the context of design craftsmanship, textile production and local style, emphasising that reality is no longer a single narrative._

 By: Kuhu Kochar