Raga Ensemble mesmerises fashion lovers

Raga Ensemble mesmerises fashion lovers

Models walk the ramp as malkauns and basant bahar herald designer collection.

Devanshi Joshi. Vadodara/DNA

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The cultural capital of Gujarat had a unique musical concert recently. Raga Ensemble turned out to be a fascinating and unique way of expressions where the classical ragas were rendered in visual forms through designer outfits, and not in the usual form of recitals. Chandrakant Golani, a city-based designer, converted the rendering of two classical ragas into visual forms through his outfit creations at the city based Abhivyakti Art gallery. The designer used ragas malkauns and basant bahar for interpretation of his designer collections.

Raga Ensamble, a creation inspired from the classical ragas, was an event of exploration of the Indian classical ragas through a live visual interpretation in the form of elegant embodiments. Models presented the designer collections on the ramp to the rendering of malkauns and basant bahar.Raag malkauns, primarily considered to be the raga of the worship of Lord Shiva, was presented through colours like black, blue and golden. The accessories like Rudraksh, damru and tattoos were used to make the effect of the raga alive. Basant bahar, the patron raga of the spring, was presented through bright colours like red, orange and turmeric. “This is a rare form of art where ragas are used in a visual form to present the designer outfits. Here the designs are not a form of glamour but it is a form of presenting the classical music. The creations have been based on the ragas malkauns and basant bahar. The collection includes shades colours and accessories representing the ragas,” said Golani.

In a specialty creation, an outfit created by Golani doesnt have a single stitch. Talking about the idea of the ragas being used for his creations, Golani said: “Being deeply interested in classical music and designs, I was keen to exploit the depth of the ragas by applying it for interpretation of my creations, hence this creation of designer collections.”Hundreds of fashion and music lovers were thrilled at the novel form of expression involving classical music and fashion at Abhivyakti art gallery.

Sharmishta Chawda, the organiser of the event, said: “This is for the first time in the state that the designer collections have been presented through classical ragas. The ragas are presented considering the colours, accessories, designs and time, typical to the ragas.”