Hand painting on textiles, creating modern day costuming and restoring vintage fabrics that are frazzled with time, Jyoti Singh and her fashion studio, Rang Riwaaz, relive the splendors of the past. Based in Gurugram, she works with master artists to create what she calls art textiles or aesthetic fashion cameos. She recreates a complete durbar through fabric paint on the pallu of a chiffon sari, painstakingly restores an old brocade to its original glory or simply designs what she calls, “Past perfect fashion.”
Born in Avadh and raised amongst art, she created Rang Riwaaz as an ode to the traditional Indian artisans who dot her town of Lucknow, hand painting, embroidering and weaving the finest threads that were worn by the merchants and nobles of this historic city. “Lucknow is a town of tehzeeb and textiles. I have always seen it not just as a hub for chikankari but also a haven for Varanasi looms, hand painting and mukaish ka kaam. Silks are steeped in its culture, given that Benares is but a few kilometres away. As are rare embroideries that the Avadhis relished. Our parents lived in colonial bungalows and made frequent trips to the chowk to buy textiles that were truly rare.”
With Rang Riwaaz this is just the aura Jyoti tries to recreate. She designs for women who are not just classy and confident, but also aware of their heritage and history. Says Jyoti, “The collections at Rang Riwaaz are designed as an ode to ancient craftsmanship and its skillful meeting with modern aesthetics. Me and my entire design cell strives hard to preserve the intricacies of vintage crafts, at the same time making it contemporary enough to appeal to the young and modern woman.”
With an eye to fashion and an ear to history, Rang Riwaaz as a brand is constantly on a lookout for gems from Indian craft and culture. Above all, the brand reflects the cultural heritage of its clients. Hence a typical floral sari, reminiscent of the Raj era is detailed with a rich, hand-embroidered border. A row of rare brocades in the most vibrant of colors is appliqued together to complete a lehenga. And the entire Ram darbar is hand-painted onto a pallu of a sari.
Sustainability too is at the core of this brand. “We aspire to establish an organisation where we nurture the indigenous craftsmen and provide them a balanced working environment and enable them to understand the concept of quality, productivity and the need to preserve the hand craft legacy of India.” Jyoti has very painstakingly gathered and brought back artisans who had drifted into menial jobs. She shares, “There have been instances when few of our current employees have taken up jobs like society guards, vegetable vendors.” Another endeavour at Rang Riwaaz is to provide sustainability to women craftsmen. The brand hopes to create a world to create an environment where crafts people happily bring their children back into the traditional profession.
As heritage arts and vintage clothing have always been at the core of Rang Riwaaz’ philosophy, the label has a dedicated team for Legacy Clothing Restorations that has revived and restored clothes dating back to 17th century. The division is always busy with restoring the grandmother’s and great grandmother’s trousseau saris and lehengas which the families had treasured as an heirloom. “This has been one of our most loved endeavours, popular across the world especially with the Indian diaspora.”