In the digital retail era, we have an abundance of clothing options at our fingertips. On the one hand, this opens the door for endless creative opportunities; on the other, the oversaturation of the market leads to the feeling that true innovation is obsolete. How can you differentiate yourself and your brand in an industry where it seems that everything has been done before? How many ways could we possibly reinvent clothes before we run out of options
Garuda responds to this artistic dilemma by changing how they view their clothing even before their design process begins. Their founder and director, Suhail Sahrawat, explained on Garuda’s Instagram that the brand approaches their garments through an architectural, product design point of view rather than as traditional clothing. We start interacting with clothes as babies, and as a result, our understanding of what we can and can’t wear is pigeonholed by our expectations.
Garuda’s designs strip us of our expectations, creating unconventional yet highly practical pieces. The label has three available collections: Pour Toi, offering ready-to-wear pieces year-round, Pour Moi, consisting of made-to-order premium pieces, and their annual collection, where the designers let their creativity run wild. This year’s drop, HEIRLOOMS, is a celebration of the items we pass from one generation to the next.
When introducing this collection on their website, Sahrawat shared the story of his mother’s sewing machine, a simple tool turned into a symbol of creative resilience as it saw her, and now her son, through their careers in fashion. The collection, then, is conceptually and stylistically rooted in the inevitable repurposing and mending that comes with items passed down through generations. One of my favourite dresses, for instance, was once a deeply loved, well-worn saree belonging to my mother. As its fabric began to splinter and shed, we salvaged what we could to turn it into something new while preserving its legacy.
HEIRLOOMS takes from this patchwork ideology, showing us how our past can be honoured while also offering us garments unlike what any other brand is offering at the moment. Garuda’s innovative ethos is tied to its witty, tongue-in-cheek personality, as seen by products like the Shkirt, a seemingly standard shirt that transforms into a skirt by changing its neck hole to adapt to your waist’s circumference.
Their Double Knee Pants, similarly, take from the current trend of fashion that is designed to look like work wear, using the same reinforcement seen on brands like Dickies but in the literal shape of knee bones to poke fun at people who wear these pieces without ever having done manual labour. A contextual, historical understanding of these garments, then plays a role in truly understanding and appreciating this collection.
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