Wearing fashion is one thing, and living in one, is altogether another! The quintessence of fashion is truly experienced when you’re living and breathing it. Home is indeed an extension of one’s taste and personality that reflects their true lifestyle.
Fashion today is no longer just confined to wardrobes; it has sprawled its way through the aesthetics of designer homes. Yes, sure there were interior designers always who did the homes, but it’s the new burgeoning breed of fashion designers who are blurring the domain lines and entering the new segment of interiors. Be it beautiful wallpapers, chic cushions, glamorous tapestries, fancy lights or elegant serve-ware, designer labels and fashion houses have begun to claim their mark on this segment which is more permanent than just apparels.
Giant fashion players and International labels like Armani, Versace, Ralph Lauren, Kate Spade, Roberto Cavalli, Zara and Gucci have been amusing the fashion world with their décor line since quite some time now.
Indian fashion designers like Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Pallavi Jaikishan, Anupama Dayal, Rohit Bal, Suneet Varma and J.J. Valaya have also forayed into home décor, either through collaborations or launching a new décor line under their label.
If you have been on social media, you would have been following interior blogs like An Indian Summer, Trumatter, The East Coast Desi and The Key bunch décor to get inspired for your own home styling ideas and design. Cozy spaces by the balcony garden, green spaces within home, tea-party, sit-down dinners and gazebo garden parties are becoming the new norm for modern Indian youth. It’s not just about my outfit of the day, but it’s also about my style of home décor.
It was only a matter of time before coveted fashion designers realized the need to extend their expertise from fashion to interiors, jewellery, makeup, shoes and perfumes, akin to international design houses.
Ciceroni brings forth the list of the most sought-after fashion designers who are also slaying the home décor game…
SABYASACHI
India’s heart-throb designer Sabyasachi’s first foray into home furnishings happened in collaboration with Pottery Barn, America’s home-furnishing giant. It included over 50 pieces that featured an eclectic array of colourful, globally inspired textiles and decor spanning bedding and table-top to jewellery boxes and holiday ornaments.
Talking to Economic Times back in 2016, Sabyasachi Mukherjee shared, “My goal with this collaboration was to bring exotic whimsy and colour into American homes.”
From elegant plates and bespoke jewellery boxes featuring intricate floral and animal artwork hand drawn by Sabyasachi’s artists, to brocade and embroidered pillows, reversible clock print quilts and tufted rugs in a luxurious colour palette, thecollection showcased the designer’s love of vintage textiles and the rich artistic traditions of India.
Raise your hands for this exotic Sabyasachi for Pottery Barn furnishings!
Sabyasachi also collaborated with Asian Paints for the first time in 2015 to launch Nilaya – a luxury wall paper line. Detailed wallpaper patterns derived from Sabyasachi’s experiences, travels and curiosity into the history and culture of India through its folklore, antique textiles, indigenous techniques, exuberant embroideries, and decadence of art, design and architecture took the ingternet by storm, especially when Deepika Padukone became the face of this collaborative campaign.
Talking to Asian Paints in 2018, Mukherjee commented “Given a chance, I think I would have been a far better designer of spaces than of clothing. With spaces the canvas is so much larger and people are more experimental with what they put on their walls than what they put on their skin. With that thought I decided to undertake the project with Nilaya. I wanted to do something that was Indian, that fulfilled the cravings of a commoner to be able to afford luxury and that also spoke about India’s incredible past and history.”
India Baroque, Makhmal, Jodhpur, Spice Route and Varanasi are the five distinctive lines that are so unique and can add so much character and infuse life into mundane walls and boring spaces.
RITU KUMAR
The recently launched collection of Ritu Kumar in home décor segment stays true to the designer’s signature style: of large motifs, heritage prints and her adaptation of indian textiles. Ritu Kumar Home, houses a wide range of beautiful bed linen, instagrammable wallpapers, and elegant tableware along with other must-buy home décor pieces.
Having worked for five decades in fashion in India and endorsing the exquisite craftsmanship and textiles of India, Ritu Kumar shared “Lifestyle is a natural extension of a designer brand as the ethos of artisanal brands easily extend into this field. As a brand we’re known for our prints, so it was only fair to bring to our audience an honest rendition of who we are, through an entirely new segment” in an interview with Vogue.
Among the collections is ‘Awadh’, inspired by the jaalis in Lucknow; ‘Kalash’, which draws inspiration from a motif that is over 300-years-old, as well as ‘Baagh’ that uses chintz from Masulipatnam, where it originated.
Featuring 10 collections- from sophisticated tableware and elite bed linen to vibrant furnishings and décor pieces, her latest offering is an ode to Indian textiles and art. Covering Awadh, Kalamkari, Bagru, Sanganeri, Jaamevar, Kansa and more, the collection is just the tip of the iceberg, covering few from the vast inspiration offered by the textiles of India.
“My work and research on old Indian textiles started close to 45 years ago. And textiles, whether printed, woven or embroidered, lend themselves naturally to home furnishing ” she elaborates in an interview to The Hindu. She points to the many embroidery styles from Kutch that have found their way on to cushions and bed covers, and how, earlier, emperors used to have elaborately printed tents as “travelling palaces”. Tented interiors may not be in these days, but “the prints are being used for wall hangings and wallpapers”, she says.
JJ VALAYA
Couturier and fashion designer JJ Valaya stepped into the home décor line in around 2015 with two range – The Home of the Traveler , a range of home décor products especially curated by the designer and put together like a story that sends out a message of cohesive existence of modern and old, and Valaya Home – an uber luxury brand that offers unique furniture, flooring, walls installations and signature Valaya tapestries.
“We are immensely pleased to take our brand to the next logical level in luxury lifestyles! Valaya Home is poised to be an uber-luxury player, where exclusivity and bespoke will be the buzzwords,” said Valaya at the launch of Valaya Home’s First Experience Centre in Delhi.
“It is our endeavour to make our client holistically experience and embrace a distinguished ethos of fine living in a Signature Valaya ethos, which believes that the past and present must co-exist for any space to be distinguished, elegant and edgily interesting. The Valaya Home Experience Centre is a unique one and demands two distinct approaches; one, a holistic one where the entire space needs to be looked at in totality for its sheer luxury and scale, and then one needs to very carefully revisit it again for the detailing and sheer craftsmanship of its individual pieces,” he added.
Anupama Dayal
Fashion designer Anupama Dayal too had ventured in to home décor in 2015 and opened her flagship store Anupamaa Home in Delhi after serving the fashion industry for nine years. The collection ranges from products like bed linen, duvets, cushions of all shapes and sizes, upholstery fabric, curtains, table linen, tablecloths, runners, placemats and napkins. It also offers unique Furniture pieces like beds, sofas, shelves, ottomans, coffee tables and more.
Describing her décor line, Anupama said, “The collection is Anupamaa Indian. Culled from tradition, but usable in any part of the world.”
“As a fashion designer for nine years and a jewellery designer for several, my perspective comes with an eye for detail and an instinct for trend. We want to create a space that is uniquely Anupamaa channelling all that the brand stands for,” the designer said in a statement to IANS.
“What’s unique about the line is that almost everything from the line has been created and sourced within a kilometer’s radius… from the village our studio is housed in. I have put together a team of painters, carpenters, blacksmiths and tentwallas from the village. For the first time, I spent hours working with the blacksmith smelting, bending creating the racks, the stands and the lamps,” she added.
According to her a mix or maintaining the right balance, between modern and vintage décor does the trick. Her collection resonates with her ethos where each piece reflects her inspiration that she derives from Mother Nature.
Rohit Bal
Design house Good Earth and couturier Rohit Bal collaborated to launch an exclusive, limited editions capsule collection of home décor products and apparels in 2016. Drawing inspiration from Persian art, elements of nature, wildlife and reverence for Moghul history, the collection is titled as ‘Husn-e-Taairaat’ which means beauty of a bird in Persian.
The home range included collectibles and pieces in décor and dining, with detailed hand decoration on fine bone china, ceramic and glass in classy shades of royal blue, jade and ivory. These precious pieces are accentuated with 24-carat gold and platinum. References of Nathdwara’s Pichhwai style painting has been beautifully used to accentuate the collection with signature motifs of flora and fauna.
“I have always known that if I had to design a range of home products, it would be with Good Earth. We have been keen to collaborate on a creative project for a long time and this collection is an incredible meeting of our sensibilities,” said Rohit Bal to iDiva at the event launch.
“This collection will be especially interesting for young urban millennials looking to add a piece of the Rohit Bal signature to their arsenal of style, in the easy to enjoy Good Earth aesthetic of everyday luxury,” said Simran Lal, chief executive officer, Good Earth in a quote given to live mint.
Expanding the repertoire from fashion to home seems to be a quite obvious move for coveted fashion houses and designers as the concept of luxury homes gains momentum in India. Also, its only wiser to invest into a lifestyle product than a piece of apparel, considering fast fashion trends.
So Give your homes the fine couture touch this festive season! Whether it’s the floral tea set from Sabyasachi or an exotic throw from Ritu Kumar, make your living abodes as stylish as you, with these exquisite range of décor collection from the biggest who’s who of the fashion fraternity.
