The Button Masala Magic!

Ahmedabad-based fashion designer Anuj Sharma speaks to Brinda Gill about his innovative Button Masala joinery concept that allows the designer and wearer to create multiple silhouettes as well as garments from the same fabric.

- Brinda Gill

Imagine transforming the length of fabric into a stylish garment without any stitching. In the ethos of India’s wonderful living tradition of unstitched garments like the sari, dhoti and wrap-around skirt, are the unstitched garments of Ahmedabad based designer Anuj Sharma. Working only with fabric, buttons and high-quality nylon rubber bands, Anuj deftly constructs attractive garments that drape fluidly, have flowing silhouettes and interesting textures, and can be given a new look simply by buttoning or unbuttoning a few buttons in a matter of minutes! And his creative technique and garments saw him receive the Marie Claire Award for the most innovative design in 2010.

FAST AND EASY!

Anuj’s interest in creating a different style of designing apparel goes back to his days when he was studying Apparel Design at NID, Ahmedabad, (1996-2000) and was keen to design garments that looked good and could be created quickly, easily and inexpensively. The idea of an alternative technique struck him when he saw a man wearing a shirt that had been wrongly buttonholed. As Anuj saw the mismatch of the buttons and buttonholes, he realised that if one button is put incorrectly, it results in one variation in the way the shirt appears. And continuing that thread of thought, he reasoned that if there were several buttons that were put wrongly, a pattern would emerge!