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French couture in Kerala

Parisians into the fashion business. Yes, naturally. But not in Paris, right here, in Kerala. Priyadarsshini Sharma listens as the two women explain why they chose to live and work in Kerala

FROM PARIS WITH HOPE French fashionistas Marie Vitous and Elianne Noble PHOTO: MAHESH HARILAL

Well, if you have been fretting at the lack of French fashion in your wardrobe, here's a rack full of French dressing . No, not a dash of mustard and paprika but a gather of bows and buttons, frills and flounce.

Between the two cities of Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, a team of two French ladies, designer Marie Vitous and photographer, Elianne Noble have readied a prêt-a-porter collection, Bijuli, that's on the rack for retail. This is soon to find outlets in other cities in Kerala and South India.

Of challenges

Stitching together fashion and two cultures, Bijuli weaves a story of design, travel, friendship, challenges, and spirituality, making it as exciting as a Parisian opera.

But why Thiruvananthapuram, you may ask. "Why not Thiruvanathpuram?" the ladies who have made it their home, retort. Thevara in Kochi is where their production unit, Aishwarya Fabric Art, is.

"We are both artistes and we wanted to live a dream. The start of Bijuli, which means `enlightenment' in Nepalese, is not based on reason but on creativity and friendship," says Ms. Vitous. And friendship found wholesome fulfilment when Elianne, on a visit to India in 2004, was enamoured by the kind of fashion designing going on in the country. "The fabrics and the colours were too beautiful to ignore and when I went back I asked Marie, who is a couturier, if she would like to come away to India and start a design line. Marie right away said `yes'."

With minds made up, the two ladies took a year and a half to tie the loose ends of a frustrated life in France and soon were on a flight to India and Thiruvananthapuram. "Fashion in France is finished. Nothing new is happening. It is too expensive to be an artiste there. People can't create anymore over there. You are not allowed to think out-of-the-box," rue the two about an economy that's probably over the top.

"Bijuli is nearly three-years-old," says Elianne, "and it has taken us two months to get our first collection, which is 1,000 pieces of apparel, ready." Crushed cotton trousers, short tops, tunics with loops, interactive co-ordinates that can be mixed and matched are just some of the garment pieces in the collection, that's as of now, only for women.

With one tailor master and 10 persons to sew the designers have launched a fashion line that ties Indian grace to French chic. "The only thing that we found lacking in Indian design was technique. The styles are not ergonomic. In the Bijuli collection we have combined Indian sensuality and femininity with Japanese simplicity and modernity. The line is colourful and only in cotton," says Ms. Vitous, who had a long career in designing, in France, before she took to psychology and social work. Elianne Noble taught at the Political Science University in Paris before she undertook this exotic and challenging trip. How much the ladies were driven in their dreams is clear from what Ms. Vitous tells us about the "second part of her life": "When I was working as a social worker I was looking outside France to settle down. Slowly India emerged in my mind and I made a frame with pictures of India. This is unbelievable but I wrote in it, `Believe in miracles'. I would see it every day and repeat the words. Then one day I got this call from Elianne. My wishes had begun to come true."

And the miracle as it began to happen led her to the shores of Kerala and finally even to meet the right man in her life! At 47 Marie Vitous had found her calling, her true vocation and her soul mate in Thiruvananthapuram.

"We travelled extensively in Southern India, looking for the materials and patterns but all the fabrics are sourced locally. We were looking for twisted cotton in deep, different colours. Marie had the sketches ready and after locating a suitable production unit we started work," says Noble who is handling the promotion of their new venture.

Language

"By September the new range for men and kids will be on and we have a special innerwear range," says Ms. Vitous who claims to have found lingerie lace in a furnishing store. "We found everything for Bijuli between Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. When we don't find something we have to be creative then," the two explain. Language has not been a hindrance. "I speak with my hands," says Marie while Elianne says, "little by little and 10 grammar books later, our collection is ready." Yes, the chic, bright apparel from Bijuli is ready, sewing together cultures, clothes, loves and lives. And as they say in French c'est la vie (such is life) it strangely joins hearts and hemlines.

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