FASHION MEETS WANDERLUST

The ace couturier tells CHIRAG MOHANTY SAMAL how his love for travel distinctly translates into his designs.

- CHIRAG MOHANTY SAMAL

IT HAS BEEN A long journey, spanning three decades, for ace couturier JJ Valaya in the fashion industry. From elaborate surface embroideries to dramatic bridal couture, Valaya’s name has become synonymous with maximalism in Indian couture. But in his 30th year, he decided to take the road less travelled and launched his pivotal brand called JJV, which he reveals was created to cater to his nomadic customers’ sartorial needs. An avid traveller himself, Valaya fused his travel experiences with his design aesthetics to create a line of lightweight occasion wear suitable for travel. Expect to find his signature prints and patterns on clothes made from Tencel™ Luxe filament yarn that seem weightless and can be easily rolled up and packed in your travel bags. In a candid interview, he tells Travel + Leisure India and South Asia he has travelled to 46 countries and plans to travel to 40 more and how each destination he has experienced finds a way into his creations.

EXCERPTS FROM THE INTERVIEW:

You completed 30 years in the fashion industry—how has Indian fashion evolved over the years?

The evolution has been nothing sort of phenomenal. We started in an era where no publication wrote about fashion. There was just one fashion institute called NIFT in Delhi, which churned out only 25 designers in a year. There were no fashion weeks, FDCI did not exist, there was no internet and mobile phones and no Instagram. Cut to now and you know how the world has evolved and along with that the industry.