Page 152 - Vogue - India (January 2020)
P. 152
The clothes I put on, my shoes, the ink on my
body, my nail paint—everything I wear is black.
I like to think that my initiation into a uniform
way of dressing for the past seven years stems
from my time growing up in the UAE, where I
would see women in black and men in white. If
you think about it, clothing is our first form of
defence; it is the reason people find comfort in
uniformity. I have a kaftan, abaya, hanbok,
kurta and salwar, all in black cotton. The
drapes come together to form this magnified
silhouette, like a massive void, a black hole.
“Why black?” I’ve often been asked. The an-
swer is that I love the anonymity. As a designer,
black also becomes a blank slate for experimen-
tation. There are certain construction details or
design elements that can easily be masked in
black—like a detail inside the pocket of my kaf-
tan that only I can see, feel and sense.
Moreover, a uniform transcends climate, lo-
cation or situation. I remember, I was at a su-
permarket in Reykjavík and people thought I
was homeless because I was in a black cotton
kurta. In Colombo, I was wearing black by the
hotel pool when it was 35 degrees Celsius and
the staff thought I was absolutely crazy.
The longest-running piece I have is a hanbok.
When it ran its course, a local tailor’s skills
came handy to reconstruct, refurbish and up-
Kallol Datta date it. It’s seen me through friends’ weddings,
STYLE art gallery visits, hours spent at the studio and
even at curtain call during my Mumbai show.
Same kind of versation. During my research on garments not
There’s also the cultural sustainability con-
considered conventionally fashionable, like the
different hanbok in Korea and our construction of the
angrakha, I realised the similarities in the way
we build these two patterns. Wearing them as
my uniform, I do feel like I am sustaining our
craft, culture and heritage.
What do Carolina Herrera, Mark In urban settings, where there are multiple
Zuckerberg and Hillary Clinton have in sources of buying, it’s easy to succumb to spend-
common? They’ve each found comfort in a ing money and fill up your wardrobe with things
that have less wear value. So then, how do we
daily uniform that has stood the test of time, buy less? Wardrobe swaps and thrift shopping
age and place. A uniform is not a novel can be a great way to subscribe to trends without
adding to what already exists in excess.
concept, but in a time of see-now-buy-now, In my wardrobe for instance, all these pieces
could wearing one mean a more mindful coexist. They get along with each other. I don’t COURTESY MICHEL FIGUET; GETTY IMAGES
have to worry about coordinating outfits. So 10
way of curating wardrobes worldwide? Kallol years down the line, I may have more grey in my
Datta, champion of the anti-fit and all-black hair, but I’ll still dress the same—in the comfort
of all-encompassing, all-forgiving black.
aesthetic, gives Vogue his viewpoint —As told to Garima Gupta
152 VOGUE INDIA JANUARY 2020www.vogue.in
