Belle Époque Weaves Old School Indian Glamour Into Inventive Silhouettes

The roaring 20s have delivered us in the throes of our fair share of ups and downs already. The biggest of them all was a worldwide pandemic that tested resilience, patience and the humane ability to stay optimistic even in the darkest of times.

However, what struck me during these tumultuous times is the emergence of a new era of bright-eyed creatives posed with the lack of traditional opportunities and resources. But did that stop them? The answer is a resounding no. These emerging creatives have displayed a preserving resilience and a knack for innovation as they quietly toil away on their passion projects and let their work do the talking.

Kahkasha Sidra has been one of the defining creatives belonging to Homegrown’s vanguard of creatives. Drawing inspiration from the mundane realities of life, Kahkasha tunes emulates her experiences into an eclectic design sensibility.

As a budding designer who prides herself in managing to convey her experiences and ideas about Love, affection, courage, joy, grief, grandeur, and gratitude through inventive garments, Sidra’s debut collection ‘Belle Epoque’ is one to watch out for! The imaginative creative dives into her early memories of summer days spent in her grandfather’s rose gardens in West Bihar.

A notable collection entirely splices together with deep rouge embodied through rose petal satin, suede crops, and rhinestone embroidery.

‘Romantic’ is the word that best describes the collection and the artist’s temperament.

“I start embodying the project I am involved with,” explains the artist who is on a relentless quest to build something universally meaningful. “Like method acting. It starts with my inspiration becoming my state of mind and then I try to express it tangibly with lots and lots of freehand drawings and artwork or I will sit with some fabric and a body form and just play with it, see which drape or fall is evoking the right emotion. The process of design selection is almost like meditation. I am a slow person, I need time to sit with myself in complete solitude to make sense of the designs that make it to final production.”

“One thing that I wanted to do with this collection was to bring back the old school couture charm that was portrayed in 1900s images by great designers like Poiret, Charles James or the salon moments by Cristóbal Balenciaga. Those images evoke respect and appreciation for the clothes that take tens of hours to be made.”

— Kahkasha on her vision for the collection.

There’s something mesmeric about how she melds traces of on the nose Bihari glamour and an old school elegance-with something dreamy, almost otherworldly along with symbols inspired by Muslim households; a subtle nod to Urdu poetry and the freshness of rosy romanticism sewed into every garment.

You can view her work here.

Image credits: Kahkasha Sidra

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