(Himanshu Parmar, Final year NIFT, Winner of the Smirnoff International Fashion Awards)

Could you explain the liberation theme in these garments?
Firstly the colours itself. Black and white. Secondly, the black garment was designed to be heavy. 3 kilos. While the white garment weighed only 400 grams. And finally, the black garment was very complicated to weave, while the white being a commercial garment was designed for an easy weave. Therefore while the black garment represented constraint in colour, weight and weave, the white represented liberation.
      
How did you reduce the weight in spite of the buttons?
I bought standard large buttons with 4mm thickness from the market and then reduced them to 1mm thickness on a grindstone attached to a motor. Then the buttons were lined up and cross stictched to hold them in place.
  

What have been your other experiments with buttons?
Normally, to most people buttons are just buttons, designed for holding together. To me it’s a medium. To get a reddish cracked look on black buttons, I heated them for an hour on an inverted frying pan over a heater and then cooled them. (He shows us a handbag, designed with these heated buttons, some even having a pearl finish!)

Is this the first time you have competed?
Yes.
 

What do you feel about such contests?
I think they are excellent. Though we do presentations on campus, this is totally different. Especially the exposure. The limelight and all the publicity. And the price money is the added attraction. Not to mention the addition to my portfolio.
   
So what are your future plans after NIFT?
I want to focus on visual merchandising. That is fashion designing in addition to designing the

shop selling the designs. Since I did my Architecture course at CEPT, Ahmedabad, I have specialized in interior design and building design. I have also studied Vaastu Shastra. Right now I’m working on a project for Adidas. On the interior design for their showroom and designs for their T-shirts.

Will you head back to Gujarat?
No. I plan to work in Bangalore. I feel it is designer friendly and there are more opportunities.
    
By Monu Surendran