When Chennai-based designer Ashwin Thiyagarajan speaks about fashion, it’s rarely just about clothes. It’s about rhythm, memory, and form—and what it means to belong. His latest bridalwear collection titled ‘Alar’ (which in Tamil means “full bloom”), explores precisely that intersection. “I’ve always believed creativity is born in the in-betweens,” he tells me over our late-morning conversation. “Every piece I make is an intersection—heritage and silhouette, edge and curve, old and new.”
For a designer who has spent years catering to what audiences wanted—predominantly heavy Indian bridalwear in colourful brocades—the last year has been in his own words like a “creative exhale”. ‘Alar’ is stripped of the rainbow array of colours that have so far marked his work and focuses on the white wedding wardrobe. It’s study in what he calls “soft structure”, where corseted waists meet sharp shoulders and floral motifs inspired by the hibiscus and jasmine gardens of his childhood overlap with geometric borders. “Incorporating them into vintage silhouettes felt like coming home,” he says. But this is no nostalgic, sepia-tinted photograph; it’s a razor-sharp reinterpretation of what it means to have a Tamil-influenced aesthetic for the modern moment. One that he hopes will appeal to NRIs and also locals who previously had to look abroad for inspiration. “For a long time, we all had this ‘mogham’—this desire—for things abroad,” he explains. “But now we’re taking pride in what’s ours.”
Born and raised in Chennai, Thiyagarajan, 37, grew up in a conservative household where academics were the priority. “It was all about getting the first rank,” he laughs, recalling the pressure to excel. He eventually trained as an electrical engineer, but the craving for creativity never left. His pivot to fashion was accidental, born from playing with leftover fabric scraps that he assembled into a lehenga. This led to the multi-hued, patchwork designs that have become his signature and have drawn him fans at home (Isha Ambani has worn one of his gowns) and within the Gen Z diaspora. Stars like Maitreyi Ramakrishnan or pop star sisters Rhea and Lara Raj frequently wear his tea dresses in striped brocade or corsets with oversized embroidered blooms. Today his brand logo—a kolam, the geometric floor drawing women trace at dawn—is tattooed on his arm.
