F-Trend brings the story behind Saaksha & Kinni’s SS’18 collection Forza, which will be showcased at Lakmé  Fashion Week on Saturday, 3rd February at 12 PM. 

FORZA

fɔːtsə / noun / ‘strength; force’

Sometimes, the strength of our past can give us faith for our future.

At Saaksha and Kinni, even as we’ve forged ahead step by step, we’ve realized how much of what we think about our collective future actually draws from our shared past. And so, this season, we’ve dived right into our own heritage, our mothership that has subliminally informed all our choices and narratives. In our case, it’s the state of Gujarat in India.

As we dug deeper in the Gujarat story to tell our own, we realized that maybe this is where we were first given the idea of looking at our clothes as psychological armor – a thought that defines our very aesthetic. We discovered the angarkha, once worn by men in court and on the battlefields, a sharp piece of design that served to protect. We fell in love with the idea that the angarkha as well as its flouncier cousin, the Kedia, carried femininity in their fierceness, a concoction that has always spoken to our core. You will find these elements in Forza, but through our distinct lens that always explores that thin dividing line between opposing forces.

Look closer and a bit of Gujarat will come alive to you in the form of the archetypical bandhani and batik intermingling with the dark florals that have always been our personal obsession. The contrast-without-conflict runs in our color palettes for the season too: lilacs, reds, purples and white meeting our love for the blacks, maroons, and mustards. Partly anthropological, partly fashion and partly art, Forza carries the heritage mirror work in the embroideries, so representative of this land. Take this piece of rich history with our signature metal and thread work against darker embroideries, and you can see a nouveau Gujarat emerging.

Our work for Forza took us back to the endless summers spent out here – and through our breezy silhouettes and relaxed fits, it’s our attempt to reclaim that feeling of anything-is-possible that we first felt on Gujarat’s soil. With Forza, we’re paying our respects to the past, discovering the present, and creating for the future.

Saaksha & Kinni