AK Is OK

When inspiration stems from emotion, the result can only be a sublime tale of design

- MEHERNAAZ DHONDY

In an unusual and interesting end to FDCI’s India Couture Week back in July 2014, Anamika Khanna showcased her collection via an installation at her Outram Street store in Kolkata. If there’s a fashion event that I’ve missed that gave me and continues to give me FOMO long before the phrase came into existence, it would be this. Everything I saw vicariously through people’s Instagram feed was nothing short of stunning – 34 of Anamika’s primarily ivory-hued ensembles in luxe fabrics like silk organza complete with exquisite threadwork and tone-ontone embroidery, shared space with some of her signature cutwork jackets and capes, which were framed on the walls. These have enthralled me to the extent of saving them in my folder and reposting them every time I wanted to relive a moment in Indian design and celebrate its creator, whose nonconformist aesthetic may have propelled her into being one of the finest reinvention artists of our times.

Somehow, the need for relevance and reinvention in fashion is the strongest in this almost post-pandemic age, but for Anamika, this has always been part of her design story.