Designer JJ Valaya goes online

Veteran designer JJ Valaya, who completes 20 years in the world of fashion, has ventured

into e-trade encouraged by the prospects e-retailing medium is showing. His prêt collection is now available online. Apart from getting into e-retailing, he also unveiled a calendar and coffee-table book as a part of 20-year celebrations.

Many events have been planned throughout the year, which will eventually result in a grand retrospective towards the end of the year. The coffee-table book showcases the story behind every beautiful collection of the designer. Valaya has roped in various people from the fashion industry who have been instrumental in his success story, to pose for the limited edition calendar.

The year-long celebration began with the designer doing the grand finale show at Delhi Fashion Week earlier this year. Currently, he is rolling out a vintage tour at Kimaya stores across three cities starting with Mumbai over this weekend.

Valaya usually likes to play with fabrics to create exquisite designs. Tulle is one man-made fabric he has extensively used in his collections. His line presents special cotton, layers of which fall in drapes towards the bottom in his anarkalis. Almost 12 metres of cloth have been used. These are known as farshia anarkalis. Farshias were the style of anarkalis worn by dancers in Mughal courts. Paying attention to detailing like use of embroidery, semi-precious stones woven carefully with thread embroidery, cuts that define volumes, fabrics that speak of rich Indian heritage and inspiration from royal courts, JJ Valaya collection takes inspiration from his previous work.