FT NEWS: A collection of kalamkari transient wear featuring India’s rich forest life

In her latest collection Adavi, Archana Jaju invokes the magic of India's thriving forests on handspun chanderi, organza, and light silks woven in Chanderi. The collection celebrates the ease of living in modern day India across flowy silhouettes perfect for everything from a business meeting to post work social event. 

Archana Jaju’s fall Winter ‘23 collection revisits the traditional art of kalamkari using 23 steps to hand-drawn motifs inspired by the magic of India’s forests and the language of natural colors and vegetable dyes against a palette of pastels. Each piece in the collection begins with softening the fabric, hand drawing the stories, and allowing the fabric to soak in the sun’s cleansing energy. This handcraft makes each piece in the collection inimitable and thus unique. 

Inspired by nature and connected to folklore, Adavi is a prayer in craft for the ecological diversity of India where forests thrive and rivers gush full of birds in the sky, fish in the waters, big cats prowling, and trees that cheerfully whisper amongst themselves of stories across centuries. 

Adavi brings together coord sets, dresses, and jackets resplendent in kalamkari artwork and shimmering details for women across ages. The collection, like its inspiration, is timeless.