Anupamaa presents Ishq-e-Dilli line at Wills Fashion Week

For me personally, this collection will be about digging deeper roots and making my peace with the city I choose to live in, work in and raise my children in.

Inspiration

The rich Islamic art and Mughal traditions but will also reference the Sultanate, Lodhis and others.

Silhouettes

Culled from tradition, but wearable globally. Sharara inspired trousers, lehenga inspired skirts, jamas and angarkhas which will be worn by women across the world as dresses.

The Woman

The essential Anupamaa woman who is the free spirit. Her thirst for beauty and timelessness of fashion transcends trendy. She understands that fashion is a powerfully transformational tool.

Awarded the Designer of the Year by Cosmopolitan Fun Fearless Female Awards 2011, voted as outstanding by Elle US while Vogue UK declared her autumn winter 2008 collection as “easily the prettiest”.

Launched in 2004 Anupamaa has received a great response in Paris, and has showcased at the prestigious Rose-mount Australia Fashion Week. Anupamaa supplies in stores across US, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia.

The raison d'etre of Anupamaa is the revival of the ancient, almost forgotten hand printing and needle craft techniques of India. Anupamaa’s style is vintage meets bold and western. The print stories are often eclectic and the philosophy is organic.

One of her favourite techniques of ancient hand printing using wooden blocks. The wooden blocks are carved by hand based on Anupamaa's hand drawn sketches. The blocks are then dipped into dyes and placed on silks and cottons. The dyes are made using vegetables and organic fusion by expert colour master-mostly secrets handed down over generations. The fabric is then coated with clay, rolled along with parchment and steamed in an oven for a few hours; post steaming we wait for a day of crackling sunlight to wash the fabric. The sunlight oxidizes the colours and makes them dazzle.

Anupama Dayal