Exclusive: Designer Ashish N Soni On His Latest Collaboration With Indya, Creating Genderfluid Festive Wear And Modern-Day Heirloom Designs

The festive season is just around the corner. From crowds displaying their best moves on Bollywood’s most-cherished music medley to window panes of the biggest to the smallest boutiques, decorated with the shiniest of designs, festive cheer is knocking on our doors. Besides the joy of binge-eating laddoos, and meeting our loved ones, the idea of dressing up returns like an annual ritual. And hoping to deliver their best-sculpted curations in this category, designers welcome the season of celebrations with open arms. With a collection allotted to the most glimmering months of the year, customers are invited to the world of new trends, cuts and colours, that will guide them towards a successful festive look. And as you take a trip to the internet bazaar or hop to your favourite designer stores, to find a piece for your shopping cart, we’d love to steal your attention for a minute to display this new collaboration in town.

Coming straight from the design genius of designer Ashish N Soni and Delhi-based modern Indian wear brand–Indya, the partnership promises to offer something special for your closet. Joining hands, the two popular names in style, have whipped up a fall festive capsule collection that marries Ashish N Soni’s minimalism with Indya’s modern-day approach. Speaking further about the collection, genderfluid festive wear and upcoming trends, ace designer Ashish N Soni takes us behind the scenes of this collection.

Ashish N Soni: My thought behind this collection was quite simple–create a festive collection in which the Ashish N Soni design values, merge seamlessly with those of Indya’s to develop a collective yearning for traditional Indianwear with a modern twist. We hoped to provide intellectual and creative inspiration to both, our and Indya’s customers. The end result is an elevated look that is simultaneously timeless and of the moment, strong, powerful, reduced, sophisticated, yet visually commanding.

Ashish N Soni: The brand has established itself in the space of tasteful design at a reasonable price in the women’s occasion wear industry. More importantly, their contemporary design values merge beautifully with mine. They gave me a free hand to develop a collection that represented my sensibilities, and brought something exciting to their mix. We’ve created an exciting Indian wear collection with a chic and modern edge.

Ashish N Soni: Festive wear by definition has always been glamorous but doesn’t always require to be OTT. Besides, modern India has changed extensively. Being loud is no longer required to make a statement. The new generation doesn’t like to go heavy on colours and is looking for subtler and sophisticated festive options.

Ashish N Soni: We have endeavoured to maintain more than one essence of our label while entering this collaboration. Our biggest qualities of impeccable design, fit and cutting-edge contemporary feel, have been kept intact in this collection. Our main challenge was to bring a value-for-money proposition, which Indya has hugely helped us bridge, allowing a much larger audience to buy an Ashish N Soni creation.

Q: With your design ideologies, you’ve always blurred the lines between gender-specific fashion. But how does one build a genderfluid wardrobe in the festive wear category?

Ashish N Soni: Yes, it was a conscious design call as we wanted to remain in a colour zone that appealed to our label’s aesthetics. Besides that, we are very confident that jewel tones, black and ivory lend themselves beautifully to our story of women’s evening wear. Some of the pieces can easily become classics and can be worn repeatedly.

Ashish N Soni: A modern woman for me is any lady that makes her own decisions, is fearless, mobile, ambitious, and functions in a high-pressure work environment but without losing touch with her femininity.

Ashish N Soni: There is a certain speed that is entering festive wear in the same manner that it did with western wear. While the modern Indian home holds onto its heirloom sarees and weaves and would probably pull them out for some momentous occasions, today’s woman wants to look different from her mother. Rather than draping six yards, she’d love to be in an unusual drape pre-stitched saree which is sleek, sexy and gives her easy movement. Our personal touch is that we like to make it as special as possible and hope the customer values the garment to wear it over and over again.

Ranging from one-shouldered kurtas, powerful pantsuits and pre-stitched sarees to classic lehengas, the collection comprises of 37 stylish separates that are sure to light up your special occasions. You can find your pick from www.houseofindya.com and exclusive Indya brand stores.