‘There are many ways fashion brands can be sustainable and whatever you can do, you must’: Designer Narresh Kukreja

Shivan & Narresh, the eponymous fashion label founded designer duo Shivan Bhatiya and Narresh Kukreja, is synonymous with chic and luxury holiday dressing in India, which satiated people’s love for travel, and also altered the way people perceived ‘travel fashion’. From swim, resort and safari to cruise and ski – the label dinguishes each holiday lifestyle with its powerful aesthetics and stunning prints.
Now, the designers are all set to showcase their latest collection, The Fresconian Series, at the ongoing FDCI x Lakme Fashion Week. Borrowing inspiration from the painterly quality of fresco murals adorning the walls of Havelis in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan, the collection will “paint to life India’s opulent hory and evolution through the modern lens of art and design”.
Ahead of the collection reveal tomorrow, Narresh opened up about the idea and design of the collection, return of physical shows, the pandemic-induced shift in the fashion industry, sustainable fashion practices and more.

Excerpts
Tell us about your upcoming collection, and the idea behind it.
This collection came out of our trip to the Shekhawati region in Rajasthan. It wasn’t intended or planned as we were there for sourcing for an interior project. We were blown away the old unkept mansions and havelis in that region. What was interesting were the fresco murals on the walls of these havelis. So we took one day out and biked around the region, clicking and documenting all these walls and the frescoes. What was interesting about these frescoes were that they were unlike any other fresco that we have seen in our country as they were very contemporary. They were documenting the lives of people who were living in these realities about 100-200 years ago. Apart from traditional motifs, they also featured events like the industrialisation of India, how and when mechanical cars and airplanes came in and the conquest of India the British; it was very interesting to see a contemporary version of frescoes. Also, it was very inspiring to know that this is the largest concentration of frescoes in the world. So, it became a huge starting point of our collection.
SHIVAN & NARRESH x John Jacobs Illustration (Source: PR handout)
What are the different kinds of designs used in this collection?
We are releasing five prints tomorrow, all of them inspired these fresco murals. The painterly quality of the frescoes is what you will see on the prints. I took it as huge liberty to actually hand paint all the prints that we are putting out tomorrow, as I love painting. Two prints focus only on the landscape of the region – morning and evening is dedicated to the swim and resort section. The other print is dedicated to all the arts and textiles from the regions. You will see a lot of tie-dye and bandhani, but we wanted a very contemporary representation of that. I did a lot of ink on paper as it has a very handmade feel to it, much like the textiles that come out of this region. Also, there’s a lot of cactus in the region so there is a very contemporary representation of it in one of the prints. For the last print, I wanted to revisit one of our old signature prints, called Leger Leisure. I took a massive sheet of it and tore it, and then reassembled it like a collage. It has a huge underlining emotion of Y2k and 2000s when we didn’t have software to make prints and designs.
What’s different about the show set up this time?
The set-up is inspired a David Hockney painting. The light and set design are like a bottom of a swimming pool where everybody sits in this pool and the collection actually takes place in there. That particular painting has a landscape above the pool. All the landscapes that we hand-painted for this print are what we are trying to recreate. You will see different details of these paintings all across the runway. The thing is that when you create a print and then scale them down to print on fabric, you don’t see the details. So, it’s a very nice way for us to put attention to the details.

You attempt to redefine sensuality and its relation to clothing with this collection. Can you explain?
This is always an underlining sentiment for us as a brand because the DNA of the brand is so close to swimming as a category. We are masters of working very close to the body and that’s where our aesthetic comes from. With every new collection, we are always questioning this relationship of clothing with sensuality – how do you cut it? How do you expose it? How do you conceal it? The Fresconian Series is yet another version of that.

Lakme Fashion Week is returning to physical format after a gap of two years. How do you feel?
I think it’s a great opportunity. I also believe that any brand needs to be omnipresent. You need to be present with equal amounts on a digital platform but also be present in the physical world. This gives a great opportunity for you to engage your customers and audience who live around you in the city. In this case, it became a great reason for us to call all our clients in Delhi-NCR to come and witness the show in person, but at the same time, documenting and releasing it for our digital audience. We always drop our show digitally a day after fashion week.
The Covid-19 pandemic brought a significant shift in the way fashion is perceived. What would you like to say about it?
I think there’s now a general sense of ease. The pandemic has taught us that you can do, whatever you want to, from the comfort of your home. It has given people the liberty of travelling and holidaying anywhere they want and shopping from anywhere. Most importantly, the art of storytelling is something you are always doing as a creator. That’s a fantastic opportunity to engage your audience and demographic.

As a designer, how has the last couple of years brought a change to the way you approach fashion?
It has taught me that fashion is actually more demographic today. The last two years have forced us to view the entire world through a digital experience. As a creative founder, that has made me realise two things – have more sympathy and understand that creativity can happen even from home. I was one of those bosses who used to feel that my entire team needs to come to the office for me to head them. But, I’ve realised that my team is probably more creative while working from home. On the other hand, it has also taught me that, whether you like it or not, a lot of our world exs on our phones. Our business and business strategies also need to reflect that. Therefore, I feel that a digital representation of our show each season is as important as the physical one and that’s something I will continue even after the pandemic.
Sustainability is the buzzword in the fashion industry currently. What do you think needs to be done to encourage sustainable practices further?
Sustainability is going to become a prerequisite for anyone living in the current times. Also, sustainability as a word is going to be expanded more and more the fashion industry as there are so many levels at which you can be sustainable as a brand. While some brands may choose to be sustainable at the fabric or the textile stage, others might be sustainable on a human scale, in terms of who you employ. There are many ways brands can be sustainable and whatever you can do, you must do. In our case, in the last collection we showcased, our entire swim category became 97 per cent completely made out of ocean waste fabric. We took a pledge that since we design clothing for the ocean, we must also design it from the ocean.

If there’s one thing you would like to change about the fashion industry, what would it be?
I would ask for more independence streak in our industry. When new designers walk into the industry, they have a lot of pressure to create what sells rather than creating what they would like to create. It would be nice to see young designers and newer brands taking that stand to say ‘no’. We really need more of that in our industry to change the texture of the fashion industry.

There’s a growing focus on fast fashion and its social and environmental impacts. How can that be minimised?
Have more homegrown labels! I think the more homegrown and designer brands and labels we have, the more people will value the clothing that they buy. When you value the clothing that you buy, it has a larger life span in your wardrobe in comparison to fast fashion. You buy fast-fashion clothing for just a night or an event and then never look back at it. So I feel that you need to have emotion in clothing and it comes when they are created brands that are emotional such as designer brands, homegrown brands and boutique brands. We need more of them and that’s going to make people consume clothing that is mindfully created than just mindlessly consumed.
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