Recently, when Gucci’s creative director Frida Giannini collaborated with Japanese Manga artist Hirohiko Araki on a comic strip that was inspired by her 2013 Cruise collection, the fashion industry welcomed the trend with open hearts and minds. We check with city-based designers, who feel the combination of pop art with mainstream fashion will be the next big trend in the coming seasons.
Designer Nida Mahmood, who pioneered the pop art inspired fashion in Indian fashion, says, “Prints as a whole have been a huge influence in fashion. Lately some off-beat takes on prints have also garnered a lot of appreciation. Gucci using Manga style comic art in their regular collections is nice. I feel we are in a very good space in terms of graphic design on garments. It seems to be building tempo towards a bigger boom in the near future.”
Caricature artist and designer Manish Tripathi feels the inclusion of comic art in fashion indicates the change in the mindset of the consumers. He says, “The case of graphical adaptation in fashion is evident by the change in attitude of the masses, which is now dominated by the young generation. Cartoons have become a popular means of conveying socio-political messages, where one can relate to the energy and enthusiasm of the imaginary characters.”
Designer Nitin Bal Chauhan, who recently started his prêt label Bhootsavar, has featured many graphic designs and artwork in his latest line. Speaking about this trend, he says, “In India the market for graphic-inspired in fashion is very niche. The pop art in fashion is very selective and only a limited section of people, who are influenced by music, films, art and books like to include it in their day-to-day wear.”
Whereas, designer Nikasha Tawadey feels that inclusion of art in fashion depends a lot on the treatment and implementation of the amalgamation.
She says, “The collaboration of graphics and art with fashion is the next big thing as designers are now running out of ideas for new silhouettes. Introduction of new textures and prints in fashion was bound to happen.”
“Now that Gucci has done something like this it will soon become mainstream, as many people will definitly pick up this idea. The interesting bit would be how long will this fad stay in the industry because it mainly caters to the young consumers,” she adds.