Certain events not only make you think and evolve, but are life altering, more like a paradigm shift. And that’s just what happened when Kolkata’s treasure Anamika Khanna, visited the Tata Medical Center and interacted with kids some as young as 9, battling cancer.
But what struck a chord was despite daily struggles with their unforgiving bodies, they never lost that glint of hope visible in their bright but tired eyes. This is what motivated Anamika to do a private showing of her collection for 101 people, a fundraiser (Rs 2 lakh per table), where she managed to give away a crore to help those less fortunate than most of us.
Moved by the journey of a young girl, Koel Datta (captured in a short film) and how she bravely cheated leukemia and emerged victorious, it tugged at Anamika’s heart strings. It may have wiped out Koel’s family’s lifetime of savings, her parents stood by her like a rock. But the deafening silence that reflected on her face narrated an untold story of a lonely and seemingly unending fight against the deadly disease. “She won, she lived to tell her story,” says Anamika. Designer with a heart? Totally!
This sensitivity and soul can be seen in her PCJ Delhi Couture Week line too, as she lets the ship sail to new frontiers, challenging herself to push the proverbial envelope. This time it is lace that has caught the designer’s eyes. French lace with an Indian heart, sounds unbelievable? It is the true genius of Anamika, who allowed the delicate piece to retain that innate intricacy, but took it a notch higher by not just using it as a trimming but making it into an entire fabric. “I don’t like the word Indo-Western, it is quite deceiving. But I would say my line is about taking Indian silhouettes a step forward. I have added a carefree spirit to the look, placed powerful motifs where I want and as I pleased. I like to make simple pieces, the hard way, unless it is laborious, tedious and draining I am never content with the outcome,” she giggles.
As she shares the space with fellow style guru Gaurav Gupta at Evoluzione, The Kila, One Style Mile, Mehrauli on August 9, she was keen on a private showing for a select few who will witness 30 spectacular pieces taking centerstage. She celebrates the Indian Maharajas love for all things beautiful, whether it was an embroidered hanky or just a stunning table mat, that lies carelessly in a corner among other overpowering artifacts, it is the small handmade, hand-crafted things that make a big impact on her psyche.
Fashion, for Anamika has always been about elegance, craft, romance and above all it is an homage to the spirit of endurance that an Indian woman embodies. “I am a mother, wife, daughter and not only a designer. That is just one part of my identity; it doesn’t define or dictate who I am. I look at it more as God’s gift that I can challenge the set boundaries of fashion with my imagination, create beautiful things and still manage to go home and help my 16-year-old boys with their Chemistry and Math homework. Or just watch them play golf and score a birdie,” she laughs.
With even gotta being made in China, and karigars slowly abandoning their looms for lucrative city jobs, Anamika’s obsession for textiles and crafts and to keep them alive may seem as a drop in the vast ocean, but as they say, every drop counts. “My karigar who was talkative, always asking for money and argumentative, one day just went mute. I was baffled, till I discovered he had lost his daughter to cancer. Being a parent I understood his loss and dismal depths of pain. I decided to do something that would help others like him save their kids. The fundraiser in Kolkata two months back was a satisfying experience. It made me think about things I took for granted, good health and what is really meaningful‑family, and somewhere deep down it altered the way I looked at life,” she adds.
Maybe that’s why Anamika today focuses on ‘intelligent brides’ who are fast abandoning reds and oranges, an avalanche of zardosi, Swarovski, loads of colourful embroidery and don’t care about whether a lehenga looks expensive enough to impress her soon-to-be in-laws and aspire for something traditional, classic but tweaked to suit new-age sensibilities. “I do what I do because I love it. Nothing has come easy; I have had my share of struggles. There are still miles to go before I ‘make it’. I want to thank the Almighty for giving me the power to be able to do everything that I couldn’t even dream of growing up,” she signs off.