Swadesh x Mayyur Girotra is a wild mash-up of craft

If shopping for the festive season is on your agenda, the Swadesh store in the Eros building at Churchgate in Mumbai might just be your best bet. Mayyur Girotra has teamed up with the folks at Swadesh to bring a 56-piece collection of occasionwear fit for almost any event on your calendar. Think patola lehengas featuring geometric pixel hearts, the designer’s signature long kurtas in playful bandhani, and jackets featuring patches of vintage textiles that’ll make anyone who comes across them go “Where’d you get that?”.

It all started four months ago, when Swadesh approached Girotra about working together. For the Delhi-based designer, the answer was an immediate yes. “I was really excited about it and it didn’t take me more than a minute to say yes,” he tells me ahead of the launch of the collection. Girotra was given free rein to choose the textiles and design the silhouettes he wished to. The only brief from Swadesh: everything had to be done by hand.

“It was very smooth sailing in terms of the freedom to design, choose the textiles we want to make, go to Swadesh’s clusters, and meet the weavers. We went to the Benaras cluster and then we visited the Andhra cluster, where we did the kalamkari,” he recalls

While Girotra has worked extensively with a variety of craft traditions from all over the country, there were a few he was keen on exploring in depth. “Pochampally [ikat] is something I haven’t worked with much, so I was like, let me try that,” he says. “I’m already working a lot in Kanchipuram, so I was excited to bring that textile here.” However, kalamkari offered him something entirely new. “There’s a piece I’ve made from scratch, from drawing the design to getting it coloured. Swadesh helped me bring it to life—it’s something I had never done before,” Girotra explains.

One would imagine co-creating a collection with a major retailer must involve endless rounds of feedback, but Girotra says there was no interference. When asked if working with Swadesh required him to alter his creative process, his answer is emphatic. “I wouldn’t have done the collab if that was the case. That is something I don’t compromise on. If I change that, I change my language and originality,” he explains. His process, in any case, doesn’t follow a pattern and is based on pure instinct. “I start with whatever comes to my mind. I have no rules,” he laughs. “I would be up at 2 am thinking, ‘Oh, I want to do this patchwork on this textile.’
It’s a nomad’s world in my head. So, it’s not silhouette or fabric first or next. It’s just what I feel.”

The four-month-long exercise has resulted in an expansive collection that leaves no corner of the festive wardrobe untouched. There are one-of-one jackets cut in oversized, playful shapes featuring rare Benarasi, Tibetan, and Kanjivaram fabrics Girotra has personally collected, riffing on his ‘Collectables’ series, alongside versions featuring his signature kora work. “I love when girls wear my jackets with their Kanjivarams and patolas and Benarasis. It’s such a vibe,” he says gleefully. The most intriguing of the lot, though, are the basket-weave jackets made with interlacing strips of ikat fabric to form a plaited pattern—a technique that’s a first for Girotra.

Elsewhere, there are straight kurtas, anarkalis, lehengas and saris with the Navratri and wedding season in mind. And of course, it isn’t a Mayyur Girotra collection without some fancy denim. For the collection, the designer has created four jeans styles with patola motifs and colourful ikat appliquéd along their lengths.

There are more elaborate experiments too. A small run of two blouses, a corset, and a sari featuring sona and chandi work—with flower, peacock, fish, and moon motifs made of solid gold and silver by artisans in Rajasthan—had already sold out before the collection hit the store. “We had made only a handful of those pieces, which got booked at the exclusive preview we hosted, but we are producing more, which should come to the store in about 10 to 15 days,” Girotra explains.

When asked to choose a favourite piece, he protests briefly before contradicting himself. “My jackets. Not one of them, but a few, because they are just so cool. They are so Indian but modern. Now I want to see them on interesting people.”

The Mayyur Girotra x Swadesh collaboration is available exclusively at Swadesh, Mumbai. Address: Ground and first floor, Eros Theatre, Churchgate, Mumbai – 400020