What’s with the humble safety pin? Avril Lavigne recently got a safety pin etched onto her neck. Versace, Vena Cava, Moschino, Marc Jacobs and Tom Binns, Burberry all look to the safety pin as a punk embellishment. And who can forget the perfect moment for the safety pin when Liz Hurley wore the (in)famous Versace dress to the premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral. Closer home designers fused fashion and function at the just concluded Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week.
If designer Joy Mitra used the safety pin to club nostalgia with style, young gun Nikhita Taandon used it to accentuate the prints, which she said was the highlight of her collection.
While recreating the magic of Malgudi Days, Joy Mitra wanted to give a glimpse of the simple life of the good ol’ days of 80s and according to him, safety pins are best suited for the purpose. “I wanted to remind people of the middle class India, its value system and send them back to the memories of close-knit families. What better way than using safety pins, which is the symbol of joining. I used pins to join generations, cultures, families, friends and most importantly, emotions,” explains Joy.
Whereas Nikhita, who is a restless kid, decided to use them while doing the alterations for her clients. She says, “I always keep a box of pins and buttons. One day it just struck me that instead of using embellishments, I can make use of the safety pin, which is so much fun and funky at the same time.”
Nikhita’s doesn’t use embroidery. Instead she goes for punk elements to make the clothes exciting and appealing to youngsters. “Print has always been the focus of my work. But such metallic elements make garments very edgy. I used sequins, beads and chains with safety pins to create the metal effect,” adds Nikhita.
Joy too uses other metallic objects like keys, buttons as fashionable tools. “I have a personal collection of pins at home,” he chuckles.
Both were amazed to see each other’s collection using the element but giving totally different interpretations. Joy called Nikhita up and asked her to visit his stall and her immediate reaction was, “Oh my god!”
Nikhita adds, “I was amazed to see two different minds working on the same thing and creating such a distinct effect. But I have to add that while Joy stuck to Indian wear, mine was totally Western. And his collection is 30 per cent in pins, I score a 100 per cent.”
Talking from the business perspective, Nikhita is very happy with the response and says some buyers from Saudi Arabia even ordered for much heavier stuff while the apprehensive buyers stuck to gowns. “It largely depends on the demand of each market,” she says. Joy adds that to be safe, he did five to seven pieces in pins and used other elements like dabka, Kashmiri embroidery, buttons and a lot of texturing to give a variety to his clients.