Kite gowns, spider bras and more on the ramp!

Twelve entries by young Indian designers have been selected to showcase at the annual Montana World of WearableArt (WOW) Awards Show in Wellington, New Zealand this September.

The art-cum-theatrical event aims to 'twist conventional perceptions of art and fashion and weaves them into an unforgettable performance'. In partnership with the Fashion Design Council of India, it has been promoting Indian participation for the last five years.

The FDCI is responsible for shortlisting the 12 outfits you are about to see in the following pages; these have been sent to the WOW jury in New Zealand for further evaluation and the final selections will make it to the extravaganza in September.

In the meantime, here's a look at what India's budding fashion talent has to offer, along with their take on their own creations. Imaginative or bizarre? You decide!

This is the work of Angnarboo Sherpa, 25 and Amit Rajak, 22 from NIFT, New Delhi. Here's their take on their it:

About the theme: We are differentiating between flying kites at night and during the day. The big difference with night flying, the thing that sets it apart from daytime flying, is the loss of some of the information you normally use. Perhaps bright moonlight has washed away all colour and the extreme contrast has removed the normal clues for depth-perception.

When you lose one of your senses, the others seem to be much sharper, as the brain tries to compensate. When you can no longer see the kite, you find your sense of touch can 'read' the position of the kite in the sky by the angle and strength of the pull on the flying lines, and you can hear the kite much more clearly as it cuts through the air.

A description of your design in your own words: Basically, our garment was selected for the 'Illumination Illusion Section' of the show; parts of it have been highlighted using UV light. It gives the audience a feeling the bright glowing kites are fyling (floating) in the spaces (sky) with the gradation of the spindle placed on the garment.

Materials used:

240 kite spindles
Fluorescent sprays (acrylic lacquer)
Canvas fabric
GI wires
Parachute fabric
Bamboo

Wearability on a scale of 1 to 10: We really can't rate the wearability of our garment, because it's like an installation -- that lessens the chance of wearability, because it's for WOW. It should have the 'wow' factor!

This next one is by Ankita Choudhury and Deepit Chugh, also from NIFT:

About the theme: The basis of our theme was infinity -- no end and no beginning.

A description of your design in your own words: As knitwear design students, the idea was to promote knits in an innovative way. Tubes which merge into one another create an image of infinity.

The headgear ,with the black and white stripes, was constructed to create an optical illusion by expansion and convergence. It also depicts the complexity of the mind's conscious and subconscious.

The work is a literal manifestation of what memory would appear to be. Hence the name 'My Transfinite Memory'.

Materials used: Tubular knits

Wearability on a scale of 1 to 10: 2 (It's a competition to showcase art and WOW entries are hardly ever constructed with wearability in mind!)

Chalk up another one from NIFT -- this unique creation, to be showcased in the 'Bizarre Bra'  section of WOW, is by Bikramjit Bhowmick, 21 and Sangeeta Patrea, 20:

About the theme: It's inspired by spiders. We wanted to explore the woman's brassiere, which is always a hidden inner garment, but can be experimented with to such an extent that at first look, even the common man says 'wow!' And that's for the design, not for the obvious reason of getting a look at a brassiere. That's why we worked on this idea of designing a spider bra.

A description of your design in your own words:

Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider
And sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away!

16 years later...

Miss Muffet has grown
On her own,
She is no longer the Miss Muffet
We had known!

A family of three,
Two spiders and she
Have a good time together,
Cuddling each other!

Materials used: Stainless steel structure for the bra (in the form of a spider) where the neck-strap and back-strap are the legs of the spiders that close at the neck and back respectively.

Even though the structure is of metal, the bra fits various sizes due to the unique function of its back fastener. The back straps of the brassiere are the legs of the spiders, which close and fasten with adjustable stainless steel hooks.

The legs of each spider have movement, due to a unique mechanism created by motors and a battery fixed between the inner and outer cups and the eyes glow red!

Wearability on a scale of 1 to 10: That depends upon the mentality of an individual -- for us, it's a '5'.

This is the work of Kabeer Kodaniyil, 23 from NID, Gandhinagar:

About the theme: The garment I designed was for the 'Tourism New Zealand Avant Garde Section', in which they gave us the theme -- 'inspired by the circus'.

My concept is 'the circus in many pieces'. Whenever the word 'circus' comes to mind, I think of the circus which used to set up near my house when I was a kid. I used to visit whenever it came to town. It was very colourful, fun-oriented and I used to enjoy it, but later I started thinking of the pain which the performers had to endure. That's the thought behind my garment.

A description of your design in your own words: On one side, the circus to me is full of life and exuberance and has all the shades of happy emotions. on the other, I have tried to portray the plight of the performer, who is loaded with the task of making us laugh. That is why I have chosen a bulky silhouette which suggests the responsibility of the performer.

The silhouette of the circus tent becomes the torso. The rope which is used to tie the tent and support its cone shape are used for detailing. The arena becomes the inspiration for the lower half of the garment. I have maintained a vibrant colour scheme to capture the fun and frolic, whereas the black contrast suggests the serious part of circus life.

Materials used: Raw silk is the main fabric; with the support of fusing and foam, the silhouette of a tent is maintained. The flat circular arena is created with a plywood base. I have used a wide variety of materials like wood, metal, fabric, cords, paper, plastic etc to get the silhouette.

Wearability on a scale of 1 to 10: 5

The next unusual garment is by by Manas Barve, 22, and Yogesh Chaudhury, 23, also from NID:

About the theme: It was inspired by our passion to work on sustainable design.

A description of your design in your own words: The concept behind 'Loops' is laser-cut patterns which interlaces with each other to form an interesting surface texture. The same loops are used to join one panel to the other. This technique can be used to make a garment without actually stitching or glueing it together.

Materials used: 100 percent Australian marino wool felt sheet.

Wearability on a scale of 1 to 10: Since the garment is designed for a specific audience , we'd give it a 10 on 10 in terms of wearability.

NID students Mrinal Gautam and Aakash Joshi created this ensemble for WOW's 'Illumination Illusion' segment:

About the theme: It is inspired by Hindu culture, which is full of magical fantasies and the power of meditation, which helps you to achieve enlightenment. We drew a mental figure, which was transferred to the garment.

A description of your design in your own words: The model wearing the garment gives an illusion of a yogini in meditation posture, floating in the air under ultraviolet light, as the actual legs are not seen at all. It looks like she is encircled by the Gayatri Mantra. Also, under UV light it appears as if rays are emanating from her body.

Materials used: A major portion of the garment is made out of sustainable materials such as cane and cotton fabric, painted with florescent colour to light up under UV light. A female face mould is taken for the mask and then a vacuum is formed with polystyrene.

Wearability on a scale of 1 to 10: 7

Prabhashish Singh, 22, from NIFT had the following explanation for his garment:

About the theme: Saving the environment is a key issue of these times and the situation is worsening everyday. Humans' callous activities have resulted in an imbalance in the environment. So I wanted to reflect upon the deteriorating condition of nature by visualising Mother Nature as a woman, who has now become powerless in a way that she alone can't bring back the environmental balance. She is heartbroken as her own child ( ie humanity) is indifferent towards her. So she pleads for her father (ie God) to 'lackluster' her as it now time for humanity to act.

A description of your design in your own words: The garment takes inpiration from the dying roots of Banyan tree, mushroom fungi and other forms of flora.

Materials used: It is made by hand-knittng untwisted woolen yarn. The use of materials like jute and fancy leather yarn give it the lackluster look.

Wearability on a scale of 1 to 10: WOW garments are all art pieces and are not wearable as such in practical life. But as my garment is easy to wear for a model (it only has slip-on parts for the arm and leg and the main garment is worn over them like an armour), I would give it a rating of 10. It requires less than a minute to put on.

Sandhya Madduri, 20, and Tushar Chhabra, 21, from NIFT came up with this unique creation:

About the theme: Mobility and convenience are the key words to present-day, fast-paced life. Tool 'Man'ia! takes mobility to another level altogether -- from carrying a toolkit to carrying off a toolkit! To pamper your lazy senses, this toolkit walks to you, saying just what one would want to hear -- 'At your service!'

A description of your design in your own words: The construction of the garment took us through some thorough material exploration, and trial and error. We have tried to replicate the tools as they actually are -- the head is a hammer, the hands a pair of scissors, the feet carry a plier, screws at the waist and a spanner along the back.

The entire process was a challenge -- to recreate every tool as is, keeping in mind the wearability factor of it all. To go completely crazy with the design, yet maintaining the practicality of it. To pay attention to the minute details of every part, yet uphold the strength of it as a whole. The mania is all over us, and we hope to spread it around!

Materials used: Mainly, we have used sheets of sunboard and MDF, varieties of foam, and rexines, in combination with spray paints.

Wearability on a scale of 1 to 10: 7

This next one is the brainchild of Swati Gupta, 25, an ex-student of NIFT in Gandhinagar:

About the theme: I was inspired by my twin cousins and how they feel when people can't identify them, their yearning to prove their own identity. I have always heard everyone mention their names together and refer to them as twins, not as two different people.

A description of your design in your own words: The costume fits the two models at the same time. Their closeness has the potential to either bring them together or separate them as far as possible. They need people to see them as individuals and not as a team. All they want is their own space.

Materials used: Foam, fabric and a plastic sheet.

Wearability on a scale of 1 to 10: 1

And finally, we have the work of Vinay Mishra and Nirmalendu Kr. Mishra for WOW's Children's Section:

About the theme: Last minute preperations for the final exams and trying to mug up books like a BOOKWORM a night before the exams during our school days continue to give us NIGHTMARES...this was the thought behind our theme.

A description of your design in your own words: The thought behind this garment comes from the news of a child attacked by a bookworm! For a further explanation, continue to read this excerpt from the news:

Bookworm attacks a girl in New Delhi
VNN, Apr 16 2010, 05:35 am

New Delhi: In a daring attack,a Class 8 student got struck by a strange creature which is suspected to be a bookworm.The victim was preparing for her exams since the past few days. As told by her teacher, she was a dull student and used to fail in all her subjects. But she has been mugging up all her books and did not step out of her house.This was indeed viewed as a miracle by her parents and teachers.

Although initially nobody could understand the reason behind this transformation, it soon became clear when the girl herself disclosed that she was hit by a bookworm she saw in one of her books. A letter was also found at her desk, which said:

I am The Bookworm

"History, Geography, Mathematics, Biology... you name it and here I am, with answers to all your questions , the toughest of the tough formulae and equations on my fingertips. For me, books are not just a medium to gain knowledge; they are something that I survive on. Numerous pages of books are like a platter full of the world's best cuisines. So the thicker the book, the better it is. Knowledge runs like blood through my body. Kids worship me a night before their exams, as a slight sting can work wonders for them."

Our sources say that the girl has performed exceptionally well in her exams and she is still reported to be lost in her books!

Materials used: Made entirely out of newspapers.

Wearability on a scale of 1 to 10: 7