DESI NAZRANA – CURATOR – JDADA 2019

“As a designer, it is my prerogative to preserve my heritage and create designs that reflect our contemporary India.”

—- MANISH MALHOTRA —-

Designer Nithu Jirawala’s street wear collection, “Desi Nazrana” means local and gift respectively. The collection was inspired by the annual Pushkar Mela held in the town of Pushkar in Rajasthan.

The Pushkar Mela is an annual livestock and cultural fair held in the town of Pushkar. It is considered to be one of India’s largest fairs and is one of the major tourist attractions. Apart from the trading of livestock, it is an important pilgrimage season for Hindus to the Pushkar Lake. The fair usually kick starts with a camel race, which is followed by music, songs and exhibitions. Thousands of herders and nomads flock the lake to buy and sell their camels and other livestock. Inorder to make the camels attractive to the customers, the camels are decorated and tattooed with paints, as well as shaved in peculiar yet pretty designs. Families and tourists get an opportunity to shop from the multitude of handicraft stalls set up for the duration of the fair. Other attractions of the fair include the hot air balloon ride which gives a 360 degree view of the fair. Desert safaris on the back of the camels, desert camping which includes music around a bonfire, authentic Rajasthani cuisine, are some of the activities that one can enjoy during the fair. Apart from the fun and frolic people from all over India gather near Lake Pushkar, to take a dip in the water, to redeem themselves.

The designer through her collection captured the essence of the Pushkar Mela by creating a street wear collection with colourful patch work embroidery, pomp pomps, laces and cotton tassels with kanta stitch on the garments. The colours incorporated in the garments are brown which was the base colour inspired by the sand dunes and camels. The colourful Pushkar Mela was represented by the colourful embroidery.  Fabric used for the collection was cotton linen khadi.