Styled for spirituality
 14 Jan 2008

 With yoga and meditation finding an increasing number of takers,major fashion brands abroad are looking to India for inspiration.

A popular fashion magazine is featuring a fashion-and-spirituality mix in this year’s opening issue. The mantra now is to be spiritual in style and recognise beauty as an integral aspect of spirituality.

For designer Deepika Govind, spirituality in fashion is defined by the subtlety of a look. “Spirituality in fashion is not something that screams out loud. It’s not about Hare Rama Hare Krishna prints, for example. It is in the textiles, in the delicate textures that shows the sensitivity of the mind, heart and spirit,” she says, and adds that the richness of Indian silk and its vibrancy of colour showcases the spiritual aspect of fashion.

And in India the concept is not new. “Spirituality is intertwined with everything we do. In the woven zaree of a Benaras saree, you can feel its innate spirituality. Weaving is a spiritual experience. I have felt quietude, strength and dignity of the human spirit while working with weavers in remote villages of Orissa, getting my ikats woven,” she says.

Being a spiritual person, she has often converted her ideas into styles. “I have used a mix of Sanskrit and scripts of other ancient languages on my garments.

I mingled Kabir’s dohas with mathematical formulae in some prints I developed for my last fashion week collection. I also used some sayings of Khalil Gibran to create graffiti for a range of Tees last summer, along with the head of Buddha,” she points out.

Model Ritu Majumdar feels spirituality in fashion is about being dressed to be free. “Cotton makes you feel free. Some clothes and fabrics make you feel inhibited and do not allow your skin to breathe. A loose kurta with drawstrings can look very attractive on a well-toned body,” she says. Madonna, she feels, is someone who wears clothes that assert her spiritual beliefs.

Model Jackie Shetty believes white is a colour that best suits spirituality. “I do not know what it is about white but it is one colour that defines peace and spirituality,” she says. Free-flowing clothes also work best while meditating. “Meditation means relaxation and you feel most relaxed in loose clothes. In fact, at home you’d always find me in a kurta and jeans. Loose garments heighten my energy levels,” she says.

Designer Lokessh Ahuja feels that spirituality is more about someone’s lifestyle rather than fashion. “I don’t think there is such a thing as spiritual clothing. It’s more a lifestyle aspect. Soft-flowing clothes may be comfortable and look pretty but they do not have any spiritual connotation, ” he says.

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