Nazreen Raza unveils her spring collection

Indu Bhan

In her recently unveiled spring collection, Nazreen Raza has tried to revive the spirit of the season by blending the Oriental and the Occidental. The beautiful blend of sheer and shimmer, designed to adorn the contemporary woman, was brought to life by models like Manpreet Brar and Shefali Talwar. Ms Raza’a range of elegant lehengas, saris, trousers, skirts, churidars, and short dresses is a perfect fusion of the Indian and the western wear.

Chic cuts with minimal ostentation and controlled embroidery highlighted with zardozi in burnt gold, Swarvoski crystals and pearls blended with silver aari work gave the outfits the inimitable look. The collection is priced between Rs 7,000 and Rs 25,000.

Says Ms Raza: “There are people working in semi-formals and casuals, expensive as well as middle order range. I chose middle and affordable range spontaneously. It was just sheer instinct.”

She adds: “I create my own colours, dye the fabric myself, and create my own trends in mix and match. Even stitches are also my own creations. I fiddle with cuts and colours.”

She weaves the charm of gossamer, nets, crepes, chiffons, micro fibres and techno-textures to create a signature style. “It’s not that I chose this consciously, it just happened. There is a collective sub-conscious which everybody taps and a trend follows. Everybody draws his/ her inspiration from this, so do I. Besides, I design what I feel I would like to wear,” she proclaims.

It’s probably her creative instinct that helps her to capture and portray the sentiment of the woman living in any part of the world. Explains Ms Raza: “I don’t say my clothes are not experimental. I tend to do a lot of fusion styling, perhaps because I don’t have any formal training. My pattern is related to medieaval times, prevalent in the 14th-15th century Europe,’’ she adds.

Of Persian origin, this designer is not new to the designer wear. Her interaction with designs started in Bahrain. Soon after, Ms Raza stepped into business of creating outfits for working women, enabling them to step out from a workplace into a party with ease.

Chanel was the main source of inspiration for her during the formative years. But, it was Ms Raza’s outlet Vive La Difference at the Holiday Inn in Bahrain and her two fashion pageants that captured media interest.

On her return to India, she worked with UNICEF to organise Management Information Systems. With her sister Arsheya, Ms Raza also started her research on 16th century costumes and culture for Muzaffar Ali’s Zooni.

The first in line was ELAN—a label launched by Ms Raza along with two of her friends. “We created these dramatic, bizarre outfits and the market feedback taught us a few lessons,” recalls Ms Raza.

This was followed by a jute collection and then the chiffon collection, which generated encouraging response. Elan grew into Nazreen Raza label. Gyans and Mutiny were Ms Raza’s next stopovers.

Throughout 1992-98, her label dominated the sales at Gyans and yet there was an ever growing search for more and more stores.