Accessorizing an outfit can change the whole look of a get-up…. You can create a dress up or dress down appeal, just by flaunting the right kind of accessories for the desired look. Placed right at the end of exhibit hall number two at the ongoing AIFW, the accessory stalls made their presence felt with many visitors bee-lining for the booths. Without doubt accessories have become very important for a women’s dress code, and sometimes even for the men. Hosting a collection consisting of a range of shoes, bags, jewellery and stoles, each stall stood out easily due to the kind of concept and inspiration that went behind its creation.

Story behind the collections…

Whether it is a bag, a pair of shoes or even a piece of jewellery or stole, each piece told a story of its own. Commenting on their inspiration, designers of brand Art Apparel & Accessories, Shelina Kukar and Camelia Dalal said, “Basically we have two main inspirations, one is tribal and bohemian and the other is traditional Indian culture. We focus on using Indian crafts like zardozi and everything we do is hand embroidered and handmade. Nature is also a big inspiration, as you can see almost all our products display floral motifs and embroidery.”

Malvika Vaswani, founder of her eponymous label, named architecture as her main inspiration.  “My most recent collection is called ‘Salt’; it basically uses stain glass and is inspired from stain glass windows seen in various homes and buildings. We have used metal as an overlay because in stain glass technique they fuse glass with metal,” she explained.

Casa Pop by Raseel Gujral Ansal offers a true amalgamation of the modern Indian spirit. Exuding a colour story that is revolving around muted tones, the entire collection sits perfectly with the fashion week’s India Modern theme. From the kila theme to paradise to the monkey print, each theme offers an ideal mix of Indian and western culture.

“My collection is named ‘Here’. It highlights the core of our being as that is where all the energy and beauty lies. It has a meditative feel, as the bags have doors and houses made on them to make the owner feel completely relaxed. Basically my purpose is to convey the message that we should enjoy where we are,” explained Ayushi Kanoi Gupta, Creative Director of label ‘LoveToBag’.

Detailing collections…

“Our collection mainly consists of bags and shoes. The work done on these products revolves mainly around floral and leafy motifs, as our focus has been majorly on nature. We still use Indian embroideries though,” stated Shelina Kukar, designer of the label Art Apparel & Accessories.

The name LoveToBag in itself is enough to understand that the label is all about bags. When it comes to detailing and design, the Creative Director Ayushi Kanoi explained, “LoveToBag specializes in intricately handcrafted bags.” And true to her words, the bags not only display gorgeous pearl embroidery but also showcase intricate beadwork and fine handwork. The unconventional use of embroidery, prints and fabrics truly make the label’s collection stand out among all.

“The colour story of my latest pieces revolves around purple, red and gold and black, white and rose gold. For me technique and craftsmanship is very important. We have a very minimalistic aesthetic, we don’t do unnecessary decoration and we always use alternate material in our jewellery. We work with dying crafts like Bidri, which is reflected in a lot of my neckpieces and earrings,” said Malvika Vaswani, owner of her namesake label.

Casa Pop’s line that consists of a range of laptop bags, trunks, iPad covers, clutches and stoles showcases an ideal blend of Indian fabric and western digital prints and embroideries. Their latest collection included bags, passport cases, bag tags and clutches made from brocade with fine golden embroidery.

Pocket Friendly!

Like in the previous two segments – womenswear and menswear–we were pleasantly surprised to discover that designer accessories are also no longer as expensive as they were deemed to be previously.

Starting from as low as Rs. 2,800, the price of earrings, the neckpieces and bracelets go up to a maximum of Rs. 20,000. Even laptop bags and totes are available at a price of just 7-8 k. When it comes to trunks and stoles however, the price goes up to as high as Rs1 lakh. Overall, the collection seemed pretty affordable and the main reason for it was to make it available for all.

“We keep it affordable because everyone in India is becoming aware of fashion, so,we want to make it accessible to all,” said Camelia Dalal, co-designer of label Art Apparel and Accessories.

“I feel to buy my jewellery, you need to understand it. In India, the market that I supply too and I am happy working with, people are experimenting, are becoming edgy but they need to be educated a little bit more, in order for them to take the risk, there needs to be something that catches attention so – price! Which is why price points have been made affordable enough,” said Malvika Vaswani.

It is quite clear that in order to attract more customers and make their collections available for all, many designers have opted to cut down on their prices. The designers were obviously looking to create a following and were not looking so much at ‘buyer’ orders.