THE ART OF DESIGN

For Amit Aggarwal, a decade marker in the fashion industry isn't the only thing that needs celebrating. The designer charts his milestones in the business that make his journey more arresting than the destination

- MEHERNAAZ DHONDY

It's unlikely that the hype surrounding a young designer's second fashion week outing created such anticipation among his peers and fashion media that they stalked his stall for a glimpse of the collection. I, for one, did. While I didn't get to see the collection, my introduction to Amit Aggarwal was via his stall space at Pragati Maidan during fashion week, in 2009. It was quite unlike anything I'd seen. There were no garments in view, but amorphous forms in off-white had taken over the space in fabrics and materials I couldn't tell, shapes I couldn't decipher - but one thing was clear, there was an artist at work here.

A decade and more after following his work, tabling it, and celebrating it, I'm still clear that Amit's strength lies in his approach to fashion via the lens of an artist. While we've figured that he marries form with function and wraps the human body in ingenious fabrics that he conjures up every season, what is lesser known is that the basic idea to use and fuse these fabrics first stemmed from necessity.

Long before sustainability became a buzzword, Amit sought out fabric scraps and waste to sustain a business, his business. But, unfortunately, he didn't have the deep pockets to source luxurious fabrics from Italy and China to start his career. In a sense, his decision to use materials that weren't conventionally usable marked the first milestone in a career that has foreshadowed the creation of his signature style.

"Amit's designs have a clear connection to his beginnings, so with each collection, you can trace the origins back to the same unique mind," says fashion consultant and writer Varun Rana, who has known Amit from their days together at NIFT. "He remains steadfastly true to what his work was even in his days back at NIFT. His essence remains the same, yet it takes on newer forms over time, much like his designs".

A NEW LANGUAGE