When WOW isn’t exactly wearable Priyanka Maheshwari chats with Sonakshi Solanki, who participated in a competition of experimental fashion

When WOW isn’t exactly wearable

Priyanka Maheshwari chats with Sonakshi Solanki, who participated in a competition of experimental fashion

Going through fashion designer Sonakshi Solanki’s blog, you can see that most of her creations cannot be worn on a daily basis. She creates these attires keeping in mind stage shows and theatrics that she is extremely fond of. That’s why she was thrilled when she was selected as one of the competitors at the World Of Wearable Art (WOW), an international competition that celebrates bold and bizarre, albeit unwearable fashion. Sonakshi has never enjoyed stitching garments as per norms. Her sensibilities didn’t fetch her good marks at National Institute of Fashion Technology, Gandhinagar, from where she passed out this year. But she is determined to stick to her creative instinct that tells her to create quirky designs with unconventional material. For the WOW awards, Sonakshi, along with Somesh Pratap, also a NIFT graduate, created a knee length dress inspired from flower whorls and made out of cardboard and jute yarn. The dress was selected in The American Open section. They were also selected for The Bizarre Bra section, for which they created a bra with steeping concentric circles made with corrugated cardboard and jute yarn. The idea was, ‘The cycle of existence comes full circle when matter is regenerated to emerge anew’. Although, the duo did not bag the award, they plan to participate again as WOW represents to Sonakshi, “real fashion — bold and unconventional”. Sonakshi, who lives in Delhi, got interested in fashion when as a child she went shopping with her mother. She paid attention to design and the cloth material. During her school days, when her friends drew hearts and flowers, she sketched amateur dress designs. Her love for the eccentric fashion stemmed from Iris Apfel, an American fashion icon, and reading Italian fashion writer Anna Piaggi’s articles. Sonakshi looks for inspirations everywhere — from the streets of Delhi to Origami. In one of her handmade creations based on Origami, she used optic fibres and LED lights that made the dress glow. Her inspiration was Mt Meru, which shimmers in sunlight. Sonakshi’s sense of style is also rooted in spirituality and connecting traditions with fashion. She uses the simple themes of flowing water and geometric shapes to bring to life her creations. Presentation with LED lights and other suitable accessories is very important to her. Sonakshi now wants to create a clothesline with Pratap on the line of labels like Forever New and Top Shop. A bridal wear line is also on cards for the young designers.