Casa dei Fiori celebrates flowers through vibrant prints, embroideries and elegant silhouettes
Rana Gill’s love for all things floral is hardly a secret. Featuring a wide variety of prints, mainly flowers and foliage, for Lakme Fashion Week X FDCI, her new collection Casa dei Fiore resembles a moving vertical garden, as models try on clothes ahead of their show in Mumbai on March 12. Let’s try.
“Flowers are full of life, love and femininity. Each flower is unique in its colour, shape and characteristics, just like every woman. Casa dei Fiori celebrates the gentle power of flowers through vibrant prints, embroideries and elegant silhouettes,” says Ranna.
A veteran of fashion and fashion weeks, Ranna has been exhibiting in Delhi since the very first Lakme Fashion Week in 2000. “I showed non-stop for 16 years before taking a break for a few years when I had kids. Then I came back again,” says Ranna. So, now she has got goosebumps and the only thing she feels before and during the show is the “festive spirit”. “It is a joyous occasion not just for me but for the entire design house,” she adds.
Rana Gill
For the upcoming show, what she brings to the runway is her own version of Italy’s Lake Como. The designs took seed last October, when she visited Como with her husband. “It was the best four days we spent together,” she laughs, “I just sat there and took in the landscape – the rolling hills, the plants, the flowers, the architecture….”
Once back, he thought about what he saw there and it all left him. “We started with mood boards, put them up. We wanted to see colors, patterns, materials to see how we play with flowers. It was not difficult. It came from my heart,” she says of the creative process.
Fabrics including brocade, linen and satin are selected depending on the print. It’s a riot of prints, with 20 different transitions on an ivory and black base. “We have produced a lot of flowers. Instead of embroidery, we are engineering patterns,” she says. And these are represented on jackets, sequined gowns, maxi dresses, ballgown skirts, matching sets and dresses.
Ranna’s eponymous label touches the quarter century mark this year. “We have stayed relevant through this. We have managed this by bringing some innovation to the products,” says Ranna, adding that her personal style – upbeat, classic, modern, feminine, contemporary – always finds its way into her creations. She is known for her vibrant designs that appeal to a feminine sensibility. She keeps wearability in mind while designing and prefers to keep it contemporary so that the buyer can wear it more. Whatever I make comes from my heart. What we create here is as timeless and elegant as our showstoppers. And who that is, it’s a mystery for now.