Tahiliani returns to the Age of Innocence

Team L&M

Designer Tarun Tahiliani unveiled his latest wedding couture collection – The Age of Innocence – as part of the ongoing FDCI’s Lotus Makeup India Fashion Week SS’21. This collection was the result of Tarun’s design studio introspecting, turning back the clock and grappling with how the world has changed in the blink of an eye. Today, one wants to hold onto their beliefs and sense of normalcy more than ever before. This year, the Tarun Tahiliani studio has held onto their roots as tightly as they possibly could – which is why celebrations feel even more sacred than they already were.

No more are weddings about bright lights, big rooms and thousands of people. With this collection, the Tarun Tahiliani studio takes a moment to think about the bride of today and what her heart would want. Lightness, joy, comfort and above all… to be herself.

One of the studio’s primary inspirations for this collection was the hidden minakari work and its celebrated colours, one normally sees in fine Indian jewellery – aquas, shell pinks, pale jades and tea roses. It was the juxtaposition of this inspiration with that of Jaamevars that gave birth to the designer’s new vision for the ‘India Modern’ bride. The studio, in its 25th year, has recreated earlier renditions of the Jaamevaar. This time, they are exquisite pieces where their base has been taken from originally hand-painted motifs done at the studio, and then delicately embroidered by hand.

The result is distinctive yet modern pieces, that are weightless and yet extremely rich. They are mixed with textiles of brocade. The new Jaamevaar couture collection is not just for The Tarun Tahiliani bride, it is also one that transcends gender. The studio has reimagined the same Jaamevar techniques for the groom and done another rendition for the bride. It is an age-old weave, a piece of art once worn by royalty that has come alive in Tarun’s own signature way. Modern fits and silhouettes, lehengas with pockets that weigh almost nothing. This is the designer’s celebration of freedom, lightness and love.

“I have always been obsessed with the quest of ‘how does one make things lighter and more contemporary?’ So, we decided to hand paint unique colours that you may not find a Jaamevar shawl in and then go back to our Kashida technique, which is hand-embroidering over the base and along the way somehow in that subtlety also came our inspiration from minakari – which is the fine art of enamelling and painting on the back of the necklaces that are often made all over India,” shared Tahiliani.

Thea ace designer added, “To me that represents the highest form of luxury, because the detailing is at the back and it is so beautifully done – it sits on the wearer’s neck and it is only for the wearer, just like a beautiful garment. Whoever sees it will understand what real luxury feels like on your skin. In an ode to this new luxury and this new stillness, we’ve gone back to a time before Instagram, before magazines, before red carpets – where luxury was created for the wearer alone, for them to really immerse themselves into. There was an innocence in that, there was a purity. The clothes have been drawn, sculpted, engineered to upgrade lightness, to be glamourous and yet be Indian, very Indian. We have taken all the learnings of the studio from 25 years and put them into this new celebration of life, lightness and innocence.”