Bright colours and recurring hearts - Manish Arora’s logo and designs connect with summery warmth and dreamy eyes, eyes of those who beyond doubt feel gratified. This is augmented by his name, Manish, which in the Sanskrit language means “God of the Mind”.
Federico Rocca of style.it wrote in the book ‘Contemporary Indian Fashion’, “Manish Arora…is popular to the point of excess”.
When the corporate world is taking over not just fashion but every other untaken sphere, there are very few unfeigned humane tendencies that seem to be articulated. To see with a sweet essence in itself has become an art in the place of the natural spontaneity of innocence.
The new marketing trends of making a love mark, analysing emotional reactions and planning a perfect advertising stimulus accordingly, has mechanised the way things have worked for centuries. The ethic realisation coming up now in itself has been utilised as a tool by many to purely construct a brand image. Hardly few pursue some moralities because they want to, and not as a marketing strategy. As Manish put it, “I do it because I want to do it” - incorporating the heart not just in visual forms but with its inner profound meaning, with true esteem and insight.
“Money is important”, Manish said in an interview to V&A magazine. Indubitably, it is very factual. But that which makes him like chalk and cheese in comparison with the omnipresent corporative milieu are not just his artistic creations and his unique identity but also the happiness that lights up the hearts of the specialist weavers who work for him which is different from the scenario seen in other parts of the world.
Manish has his own factory, “Three Clothing Private Limited” in a city called Noida, around 20 km from the capital of India, where he employs 300 people. From the fabric swatches to the final finishes, all garment creations of Manish are executed here. He has done the SWOT analysis of his mother land so efficiently that he mentioned in a Fashion talk on Indian fashion for Alta Roma Alta Moda “We are very good at surface ornamentations, but when it comes to shapes, we are awful.”
The traditional textiles and surface ornamentation in India have a long history and a huge variety, and Manish is still emotionally involved with his roots and with his steadfast workers. “I have workers who have been with me since the day I started; over the years they have honed their skills to suit my sensibilities.”
The textile talents of India lie in incomparable elements in fabrication and elaborate workmanship with a cut above excellence. But the life of an unemployed average weaver or traditional embroidery artisan in India would be in a small house, even a palm leaf/mud hut possibly, sweating on his creativity and on tenterhooks to sell it for some money, to keep alive that very art he inherited from his forefathers, taught throughout his ancestral roots, just to feed his rumbling stomach or to at least earn a meagre amount for his starving kids with fragile bodies.
The art is slowly dying out with people sticking to easy-to-use technologies and opting for uncomplicatedly made plain tees rather than hard, hand-worked Indian wear. A person off the streets of New Delhi would know the new style of trousers in fashion far better than the types of embroidery that have survived through ages in his region.
Here is where Manish’s heart comes in among the minority of those who in point of fact want to prop up time-honoured talents. With an unwavering mind he picks ethnic weavers to work on his exceptional designs, incorporating the rich adornment in not only his western “Fish Fry” line, but also his traditional line, “Indian”. The reason, he declared, “I feel happy that I am able to give them the opportunity to do something different, at the same time I also feel incredibly lucky to have access to such a talented workforce.”
The artisans when working for him not only feel content that they get paid, but also feel the art which they have never let down has at last been reawakened. In particular, the embroiderers working for Manish hail mostly from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and the economically not-so-well state of Bihar. These regions are renowned for the folk embroideries of Kantha, Kashida and Chikankari, all seen as contemporary as well as futuristic fusions in his motifs.
For a traditional weaver who has led such a habitual life in the sense of producing quite the same kind of designs for a long time, now to work for Manish with such creative designs, to make new interpretations of the redundant patterns s/he has been making is a fascinating experience, to know that what s/he does on fabrics is not only feeding the family but is also been witnessed on international runways worldwide.
Scientific innovation exists in an indispensable position and Manish undeniably utilises modern technology in all his collections. As a graduate of National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, to make the most of up-to-the-minute textile machinery is instinctive for him. At the same time however, he has assured, “I will never replace the work these craftsmen do, as it is special and will always feature in my designs.”
The pride they feel when they see the fascinating appearance of the final products, - that is where Manish’s heart is, not just in apparent logo or designs, but in those artisans who are delighted that their skills have been undoubtedly accredited now. That is where the “Colours of India” come from – not Bollywood, but from people who gain immense satisfaction from their jobs.
And that is what makes Manish Arora and his company emblematic, his heart of empathy and the artisans hearts that are steadfast in dedication to their work; not a frequent phenomenon in the fashion nuclei of the planet.
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