Chennai’s Koyambedu market inspires Sanjay Garg of Raw Mango as he brings his festive collection Garland to Chennai

Sanjay Garg is no stranger to Koyambedu flower market. It is a place he frequents during his visits to Chennai. He loves flowers, jasmine being his favourite. Little wonder that his store in Chennai — that he launched in 2002 — is called Malligai.

The inspiration

And now, the Koyambedu flower market is the inspiration for his Raw Mango Festive 2024 collection titled Garland. “I like to pick my own flowers,” says the designer, who spent the morning buying flowers from the market for his show. He then wandered around the “mandi” at 6 am, admiring the garlands. “If you are doing a line with garlands central to the theme, then you need to understand them, know what flowers and leaves are used, how it’s woven together. To draw inspiration from anything, one must be observant and sensitised to their surroundings. These observations inform my design,” he says. Attention to detail is important to him.

A few hours later, he storms into the Museum Theatre (the venue for his fashion show), looking victorious, with a bagful of fresh jasmine. He hands it over to his team, who quickly get to work. In between getting the space ready for the evening, he sits down and shows me photographs of garlands from Koyambedu. “Garlands have a sculptural quality. You don’t see craft like this in a fancy flower shop. How did they put this together?” he says pointing to a thick yellow and green maalai.

“They can be interpreted in different forms — this one looks like a human form, and this looks like a temple,” he says, swiping past photographs. He then jumps out of his seat and brings a fistful of leaves. “Smell them,” he says as he offers me basil, sage, and marikozhundu. “So fragrant, I am adding them to the armrest of each seat here,” he says.

Sanjay enjoys doing things differently. “I don’t like standardised things. Which is why I prefer staying at clubs over five star hotels, they have life. Similarly, I chose Museum Theatre as it has so much character,” says Sanjay. Over the years he has chosen unconventional spaces as venues for his shows — the parking lot of a mall in Mumbai, the Royal Opera House also in Mumbai, a pathway in a jungle near Bengaluru, a wrestling stadium in Delhi… Next, he says he would like to host a show at a library or train station… “I am not a fashion person, I look at fashion design, art and culture as a whole. So, my focus during shows is not just on the clothes alone but on every element to do with the show including space, music, display,” he says.

The show

At the Raw Mango Festive 2024 Fashion Show hosted by FICCI FLO, men in white, seated on cane muras (traditional round stool), take centre stage. These are three generations of saperas (snake charmers) from Rajasthan. As the curtains go up, the men play the been and tumba, and this forms the background music for the models. It is pure, raw music, minus any electronic intervention. Though charming at first, towards the end of the 19-minute show, the music begins to feel a tad overbearing.

The models weave in and out through the aisles of Museum Theatre in Raw Mango’s latest collection teamed with festive jewellery by Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers.

Raw Mango’s Garland collection is bright and shiny, almost like firecrackers lighting up the night sky. It features a solitary cape, saris, kurtas, and blouses in brocade silk, organza and tissue. Each with motifs in the form of zardosi, tiki, nakshi, zari or thread embroidery.

On a closer look you can spot patterns of lotus, rajnigandha or buds of mogra entwined together forming a serpentine maala around the breadth of the saris. Another piece is ruched at the bottom to give the appearance of strung garlands, and this is sealed with dabka embroidery. Taking a cue from the layers in flower garlands, the layering here features zardosi, tiki and nakshi embroidery on top of the woven brocade garland motifs. And all these in Raw Mango’s trademark vibrant hues of pink, green, yellow, purple. With some of the kurtas, the shades transition from light to dark just like in petals where you see one colour fuse into another, explains Sanjay.

Sweet 16

Raw Mango is 16 this year. But despite its success, Sanjay says he has never had a feeling of achievement. “There is so much to do. I have been restless. I feel like time is running out.”

Sanjay has stores in six cities, with the seventh opening in Kolkata shortly. He wants to take his brand to more cities, including Tier 2 cities. He will, however, continue to do one collection a year. “I do not believe in seasons or trends. What you see is me expressing my state of mind. I can be inspired when I am happy, angry, sad… and that can’t be restricted to seasons.”