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Summer shades

Minimalist and elegant. That sums up both Payal Jain's personality and her prêt and couture. HEMANGINI GUPTA checks out a hot name in fashion

Payal Jain uses her international exposure to drive a blend of Western colours with natural Indian textiles.

AS A young design graduate from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco, Payal Jain returned to India wanting to do all the things young, recently-graduated design students generally aspire to do: make fancy clothes, retail everywhere she possibly could, become noticed quickly, and be a big designer star.

Turning point

Then something happened that, she says, changed her life. She came in contact with some differently abled children from the NGO Tamana, during a fundraiser that her mum was a part of. Payal's next show, very early on in her career some 12 years ago, reflected this new interest, incorporating differently abled students into the show and contributing funds towards it.

This afternoon she wears little make-up, and there are no predictable designer trappings. Simple clothes, an understated style: somewhat like her spring-summer collection currently retailing at Cinnamon on Lavelle Road.

"In my new collection, Circle of Life, I'm thinking of more than fashion," explains Payal. "After interacting with children from Tamana, all my personal collections are for charity. Something touched me when I met the kids — it was a big step for them to be on the ramp... And we often don't think about what a big deal it can be to even tie your shoelaces."

Payal's reaching out to the less privileged doesn't stop at contributing to charities and incorporating differently abled kids in her shows. She also consciously works with cooperatives, travelling into villages to understand traditional handicrafts while trying to eradicate middlemen who swallow up artisans' profits. With bagru, chikan work, ikat — to name just some crafts she has worked with — Payal uses her international exposure to drive a blend of Western colours with natural Indian textiles. It's not always possible to create a Western palette with local materials, but Payal says she manages to convince artistes that she can provide a market that will make their learning of the craft worth it.

Western palette

"My clothes may have a Western body, but they have an Indian soul," she says. We've heard that before but Payal isn't one to pay any of the routine designer lip service. She emphatically denounces designers who claim there are no such things as "in" colours and it's all a matter of the colours you want to work with. "If you're designing for yourself you should be an artist," she declares. "Even the average buyer is really aware of what's in. You can't give last season's remnants; you have to be current. The West is really clear what they want and so you have to be up-to-date."

But just being Indian is pretty chic in itself, isn't it? "Well, it is the flavour of the season," Payal admits. "In terms of music, food... we have so much to offer. Every region has some 50 types of crafts and foreigners get overwhelmed by it." Glamorous, exotic India doesn't mean entirely selling into a prefab idea, though.

She does use Indian fabric ("they are friendly to the weather") and yes, she does use Indian prints, but that's because she likes them, wants to support local industries, and has always been fascinated by Indian crafts, especially mirror work and embroidery. Her clothes retailed abroad have tiny tags explaining the origin of the fabric and detailing the technique used in the craft. She has also researched and experimented with other indigenous traditions such as ones from Vietnam, "but there it's strictly commercial," she avers. "But when working with Indian crafts, I do feel responsible for popularising them."

Working in both prêt and couture, and avowedly "as comfortable" designing for both, her label, Atelier Payal Jain, offers a spring-summer collection that comprises block prints in vibrant colours, using patchwork and fluid feminine lines, she says. The other part of it is all ivory: white on white, "happy and fun" and both draw on the elements of life to inspire the name Circle of Life.

Making a difference

Although Payal has designed uniforms for schools, hotels and hospitals, is on a committee for the upcoming Lakme India Fashion Week, and has released a book on fashion studies, her USP is probably her own statement: "I do all this because I want to make a difference."

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