Designer Mala Sinha brings several collections to Chennai under Bodhi, featuring tongue-in-cheek prints that draw inspiration from a tough year
In one of Bodhi’s latest collections by fashion designer Mala Sinha, a saree stands out. On the edge of its pallu is a young girl riding a bicycle, her braid blowing with the wind, her father sitting behind. The alluring figure cannot be called grim by any means, yet it pays homage to one of the most haunting images of India’s COVID-19 lockdown.
Mala called the design Babuji ki Bitiya: it’s the tip of a hat for a girl who had to cycle hundreds of kilometers from Gurgaon to her home in Bihar with her ailing father. It’s one of the more poignant components of her Corona collection, “which also includes some tongue-in-cheek patterns that are translated onto the fabric using blocks of wood,” she says over a phone call.
Mala Sinha is by no means the only creative mind affected by the pandemic, but it holds a little more significance than others: Her clients include the country’s power corridors in Delhi.
still fickle
The patterns in Bodhi’s Corona collection range from multicolored faces to masks, to heroic animals across the dazzlingly wide borders of saris and stoles.
“It was inspired by how much nature managed to retrieve when we went into lockdown; It was his turn to cage us all,” she laughs.
And then there’s Bodhi Reborn Capsule, born out of a more pressing need earlier in the pandemic – the need to provide gainful employment for his team at a time when both the supply of raw materials and the demand for fashion were limited. As Mala explains: “Such conditions greatly affect those who work with their hands; Because what comes to our mind is only when people are in a good place, when there is no tragedy. Why would they think of us when they are suffering?”
And yet, the income had to be maintained and the households had to be supported by her team of artists and printers, who are predominantly women. Mala says when her Bodhi reincarnation collection arrived. “Like many others, we started making masks, but we had scraps of material discarded over the years. Most of these scraps were already dyed and printed; we die ahead of them Turmeric (turmeric) so that they do not adversely affect one’s skin,” says Mala. She adds, “We also made laptop sleeves, pouches and other things with them. You’ll never find another piece in this collection, mainly because I can’t find the same scrap of fabric again,” she laughs.
The exhibition will be held from January 4 to 10 at Neelam, Royapettah.
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