Barve’s ‘Abstraction’ and ‘Toxin’

Nachiket Barve, one of India’s leading fashion designer showcased his latest autumn/winter

collection ‘Abstraction’ along with his spring/summer 2010-11 collection ‘Toxin’ in Bangalore. His one-of-a-kind creations were displayed at the Olive Beach’s much-anticipated fashion evening ‘Haute Compote Eclectic’. The event was dedicated to the innovative works of some of the top designers in the country. Barve’s haute couture designs were paraded by leading models.

The latest collection is inspired from the symmetry, texture, and pattern that one sees in nature as well as in human art works and objects. The creative thinking process comprises of using shadows of tree branches, foam bubbles, molecular structures, DNA diagrams, and works of artists such as Tara Donovan in his clothing.

However, his ‘Toxin’ series displayed a radical shift from constructed silhouettes that Barve has explored so far, innovatively playing with juxtaposition of the fluid with the stiff, longer with shorter, play of colors and engineered placement of surface treatments in a new way. Creative visions such as organic motifs from octopus tentacles, amphibian skin, structures of coral polyps etc, have been displayed using mosaic like appliqué, thread embroidery and three-dimensional folding techniques. Hand embroidery used in a modern way as well as a play of color contrasts and silhouette’s rules this year’s spring/summer collection.

Barve was the only post graduate student from NID to be awarded a scholarship by the French government besides studying at Ecole Nationale Superieur des arts Decoratifs, Paris. There he worked with many artisans of the Haute Couture Ateliers developing different techniques. Today, his basic philosophy of luxury expressed in a contemporary, fresh and innovative way is spelt out through his haute couture fashion label.