Some designers in the fashion industry are known for bling, some are known for glam but only a handful are known and acknowledged for their minimalist style statements. And one such designer, who’s showcasing at the 18th edition of Lakme Fashion Week, is Rina Singh. She’s the woman behind the label EKA and the one on the forefront of taking the fashion game for modern women up by several notches.
She unabashedly speaks and stands true to her label Eka – which aims to design for women with no bar – shape, age, culture, nothing. She plays with unrestricted silhouettes on ramp and off ramp impresses the likes of Kiran Rao, Mira Nair and Arundhati Roy with her designs. In an exclusive interaction with News18.com, Rina describes a quintessential EKA woman as, “Someone who doesn't follow trends or fashion cycles; has a timeless appeal and matches clothes to her personality and not shape”.
She doesn’t indulge celebrities in her show and has absolutely no qualms in accepting that they don’t either. “I don’t indulge them (or they don't indulge me) - either ways it has worked. Bollywood is really mass frenzy and I prefer class following”, she says while explaining why she doesn’t opt for showstoppers. She’s happy that “a lot of celebrities choose to wear EKA for the real life."
When asked, who according to her, is the perfect depiction of a coming-of-age woman, the designer quickly named three - Tilda Swinton, Arundhati Roy and Cate Blanchett.
She further explained why she left her other three favourites including Waheeda Rehman, Kiran Rao and Mira Nair. “I feel Waheeda Rehman has aged gracefully, she doesn't ever wear my clothes! Mira Nair gets my clothes and I know her personally, so it would be biased if I take her name and I think it’s her personality that overshadows or makes the clothes what they appear to be. And of course, Kiran Rao has a personality and a voice of her own.
Kiran Rao, who attended the designer's show on day 1 explained to us why she prefers Rina over other designers. "She and a whole bunch of Indian designers made it possible for us to look this fantastic - to be able to wear our own fabrics."
"As far as I go, her clothes work a lot for me because I don't wear the socalled glamorous clothes and a lot of glitz - I don't think most people want to do that every day."
Her label has struck the chords with not just individualistic women from film industry but from the mass population too. To this, an elated Rina says, “Honestly I think I've offered an option - a parallel form of clothing for kurta or hideous fitting westerns - and I think I do understand the shape and the textiles well, so whatever I offer as an exploration of both is wearable, timeless, chic and yet contemporary."
“Women in India are changing the way they look here or anywhere else in the world, in a way they wear their Indian-ness and not look frumpy. They want to wear it with confidence anywhere in the world. And my clothes offer that freedom, to be your own person anywhere in the world with confidence, and wear your identity very lightly,” she adds.
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