Have visited Kaveri’s new store in Delhi’s Khan Market?

Bound for Mumbai from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, when Chennai-based fashion designer Kaveri Lalchand speaks about her eponymous label’s new store at Khan Market, she is reminded of her numerous trips to the Capital over one-and-a-half years.

The shopping complex’s proximity to India Gate, its reputation for housing some of the most popular brands right in the heart of Delhi and its ritzy crowd impressed Kaveri. She had, after all, observed the market closely during all her trips there, even if some of them lasted only a couple of hours. “I would tour Khan Market on foot and look for a befitting store, which had to have a two-side entry. When I finally found the place, it took us only a month to open it,” she says.

The 400-square-foot shop is her seventh retail outlet in the country, and she has special plans for it. “For the first time, I will be creating a limited-edition collection of winter clothes, especially for the Delhi store,” says the designer, who has is known for her linen-based garments. Designed by Studio Incept — a design atelier founded by multidisciplinary interior designer Nidhi Aggarwal who has worked with brands like Good Earth, Anju Modi and Nicobar — the outlet will also showcase her recent collection Paint me a Picture. “The store is fashioned in a way that it acts as a canvas for displaying the clothes rather than overpowering them. We have used a neutral palette for the store’s interiors, and I love the way Nidhi has maximised on the space, for displaying as well as storing the collections,” shares Kaveri.

Love for linen

Having spent nearly 15 years in a garment export company, before staring her own brand, Kaveri pivots on her strengths. “My key strength lies in manufacturing and production,” she says, while talking about her two manufacturing units in Chennai. The yarn, however, is sourced from Europe and processed in two mills, one in Chennai and the other in Kolkata. Kaveri employs nearly 130 people in her manufacturing and sales units.

“Our garments are made of 100% European linen. The linen yarns are imported into India in the raw unbleached state where they are processed and woven into fabric, which are then readied for our garments. We are a slow fashion brand. Every garment is layered with different processes including screen printing, embroidery and 3D embellishments,” she says. Of the yarn processing, Kaveri is particular about making the linen soft and flowing. “The mills I work with give the yarn a finish that is softer as opposed to the stiff and starched finish of other linen you find in the market. It holds the shape yet drapes beautifully,” she adds.

Artsy edits

Kaveri likes to package several small edits in her collections, depending on the theme of their design and technique. For instance, Paint Me A Picture comprises four different edits: Candy Blossoms (embellished with a melange of flora using the CMYK paper printing technique and translating it on hand-printing processes with just four primary colours), Tulip Pencil (that looks like a shaded charcoal sketch with three-colour screen printing), A Walk In The Clouds (which has six colour screen-printing highlighted with embroidery, hakoba lace and tassels) and Just An Illusion (which resembles a hologram). “This Spring/Summer collection, launched in March, took about four months. My team and I usually paint the design we want on the fabric and then print it through screen printing. The fabric is then accentuated with embroideries, like dori embroidery and aari work, and laser-cut appliqué, which allow us to embellish with 3D textures,” she says. The brand releases two seasonal collections and three capsule collections every year. “But yes, merchandise for each of our stores is different,” she adds.

Though Kaveri has experimented with blends like linen silk and silk organza, her upcoming winter edit will feature a heavier blend of linen for trench coats in patterns like chevron and houndstooth. “This one is a hangover from Paint Me A Picture with more intense oil painting concept. I am collaborating with a Delhi-based person who works with fabrics like tencel, viscose and silks. So, the winter collection, called ‘Through the Looking Glass’ plays with the different sheens of fabric and features our signature embroidery and other embellishments,” she says.

The winter collection also takes notes from Kaveri’s Prairie collection, which explores 3D patterns through laser-cut techniques. It will have trench coats, pherans, jackets, dresses, tunic sets, co-ords, kaftans and capes.

Shop the collections starting at ₹8,000 at Kaveri’s new store 53B, Ground Floor, Khan Market, in New Delhi, from 10:30am to 8:00pm (Monday through Sunday)