Emerging Indian Designer Selected for London Fashion Week

Sruti Dalmia, an emerging Indian designer is all set to showcase her work at London Fashion Week (LFW).

Sruti is an emerging designer from Kolkata and the founder of her brand, Sruti Dalmia.

Her brand focuses on showcasing traditional artisan designs from northeast India and Myanmar.

This fusion of cultures through clothes got her recognition on the global stage.

She is now all set to showcase her designs at the London Fashion Week in June 2021.

Earlier, she was also selected to present her collection in the digital LFW in February 2021.

At the digital LFW, she presented the first of her Gemini Series collection, ‘The Unsung Melody’.

Talking to Indian Express, Sruti shed some light on the details of her label.

The Beginning

Sruti holds a Masters degree in Business Management, however, she had a keen interest in designing from the beginning. She said:

“My first love remained in the designing field, and in my free time, I passionately experimented with creative dressmaking and art.”

However, it was after the birth of her child in 2017 that she had the vision to start a career in the fashion world. Sruti explained:

“During my maternity break, I found myself free to work on my passion that I have been saving up for.

“I launched Sruti Dalmia — a niche women’s wear brand in 2018.”

The London Fashion Week will mark the international debut of Sruti’s brand. She said:

“We were ecstatic when our young brand was selected. The recognition and opportunity to showcase at LFW means a lot to us.”

Discussing the challenges, Sruti says:

“Starting as a ‘direct to consumer’ contemporary women’s wear brand and a company, and focusing on a region which, by so many ways, is unexposed in the international scene, often presents us with a series of challenges that has to be managed with very limited resources.

“As a designer, entrepreneur and mom, the obstacles only encouraged me to work through them.

“Our selection at LFW was a huge stepping stone.”

Inspiration

The Indian designer explains that her first collection of the Gemini collection series, ‘The Unsung Melody’, which appeared in the digital LFW was a fusion of the two lesser appreciated cultures. She says:

“It is a song of a treasure that has still not been received by the world and remains uncelebrated. It is the unsung melody.”

Talking about the inspiration of the collection derived from white taant sarees, Sruti says:

“My collection derives inspiration from my childhood in Kolkata where sarees and beautiful northeast Indian weaves were carefully passed down and worn over decades by the women of the house.

Sruti also mentions that Kolata being near to Mayanmar led her to relate to Myanmar too. She added:

“I cannot ignore the unerring resemblance, and at the same time, the stark differences in the home-spun weaves, the life, and the culture that are a crucial essence of my creative world.”

The brand features a home-produced women’s wear line, representing the traditional designs and craftsmanship of northeast India and Myanmar.

The Vision

Sruti thinks that luxury fashion in India mostly revolves around the wedding industry.

However, she believes that fashion itself should have its own identity.

She elaborated:

“I realised the lack of unique formal wear and modern silhouette options for the ‘new age’ Indian woman.

“I built a vision to create a brand that is young, forward-looking, yet rooted.”

“As an Indian woman, I feel my clothes bridge the gap between ‘what we were’ to ‘who we want to be’.”

Sruti also believes in women empowerment and strive to uplift women through her brand.

“At least 90 per cent of our weavers are women.

“We want our women to be independent thinkers, our clothes should reflect the same.

“When I started working with Indian and Burmese women weavers, I felt it was the biggest platform for me to learn from them and vice-versa.

“It’s important to treat your weavers as partners and help them understand how the final product will look like so that we reach a common goal.”

The brand also focuses on recycling and sustainability. Sruti said:

“As part of the collection, we use upcycled and recycled fabrics directly sourced from fabric upcycling centres in India.

“Additionally, we are also upcycling all silk wastage into fresh yarns at our weaving centre to produce new garments that will then be added to our collections.”

The Indian designer is currently based in Delhi and is working on her upcoming project for the London Fashion Week.