Blurring boundaries indeed

Alliance Francaise’s Young Talent Program, which concluded recently, featured the works of a fashion designer – Priyanka Ella Lorena. Priyanka, based out of Bengaluru has her designer label – P.E.L.L.A. and was the chosen artist of the second season of the talent programme.

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The exhibition showcased the designer’s works in miniature versions which were mounted as 3-D installations at the exhibition titled “Blurring Boundaries”.

Prutha Narke, the cultural coordinator of Alliance Francaise, said the event is a platform to promote local young talents. “The Young Talent Program is an annual event, which features seven artists each year and their works are later used to bring out a catalogue,” explains Prutha.

Priyanka is the first artist from a non-visual art field and she brought with her a different perspective of art, which was “all about finding different perspectives,” adds Pruta. Priyanka adds that her designs are based on the concept of “Zero waste. The entire fabric is made from one single piece of cloth and is devoid of additional accessories like buttons. All designs are monolithic masterpieces on fabric.”

The artiste and designer sees fabric as “a means to streamline” her creative ideas while strictly adhering to the concept of Zero Waste.

Priyanka is a firm believer of wabi-sabi philosophy of art, which represents Japanese aesthetics. She strives to appease the aesthetic sense of the viewer by creating deliberate imperfections as “modern life is tough, competitive, challenging, demanding and far from perfect. The happiness lies in accepting that imperfection and finding the true sense of appreciation, gratitude and the ultimately happiness.”

Priyanka explains that she aspires to motivate the viewer to appreciate the beauty of things as humble and simple in nature, slow and uncluttered, pure and unadulterated.

Fashion designers usually create designs in two dimensions and hence Priyanka found designing in 3-D a great challenge and she started off by creating miniature sketches, which were later transformed to life-sized models.

“This is the difference between a professional and an artist. The artist always treats his/her work as a canvas to paint with his/her creativity,” adds Priyanka.

There were many exhibits on display but one work, titled “The Chakras” stood out. Made from hand-woven dupion silk, the design articulated the line drawing technique on silk with the backdrop of handmade Nepalese Lokta washi paper. The design even depicted the seven chakras of meditation.

The exhibition, with a concept of simplicity and ingenuity, succeeded in literally blurring the boundaries between fashion and visual arts.Read more at:evening dresses online