Bihari flavour at WIFW: Samant zeores in on Manoj as showstopper

Call it their Bihar connect or love towards Indian weaves, designer Samant Chauhan and actor Manoj Bajpayee are bonding big time and have teamed up for the forthcoming edition of Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) spring-summer 2013.

The “Satya” fame actor is set to walk the ramp as showstopper for Samant at the five-day fashion extravaganza that starts here Saturday. The designer will showcase his collection on day two.

“There are many things that are common between us like he is helping me in encouraging weavers and supporting the Bhagalpuri textiles,” said Samant who hails from a village near Bhagalpur in Bihar, while Manoj is from Narkatiaganj in Bettiah, West Champaran.

“Also, he is from Bihar and not to forget his varied characters played on-screen like Maharaja Vijayendra Singh in ‘Zubeidaa’, Raza Sharazi in ‘Veer Zaara’, Veerendra Pratap in ‘Raajneeti’ and Sardar Khan in ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’, so I think he completely personifies my collection,” he added.

Chauhan will present a total of 34 garments for both men and women.

“I am showcasing a collection titled Rajputana Poshak at the forthcoming edition where Manoj Bajpayee will play the Rajput king. He is as excited as I am to present something unique on the runway,” Chauhan told IANS.

“This is the new thing that we have done this season as we have used the real zari. Two people who do the real zari in North India helped us a lot, one is based in Surat and the other in Benaras so we got the zari from there and we got that woven.

“We have also used the typical Rajputana style embroidery technique. This will be our bridal line for future with an avant-garde couture feel to it. It’s just a start. Lots of innovative things will be added to the collection in the future as and when required giving it new dimensions.”

The collection will have lots of “angarakha (panellled kurtas)” for men and women alike.

“Poshak is a concept of making heavy kalis, it’s basically like angrakha, which men used to wear in medieval times. It is something new that I have tried. I know, lots of men are not ready to wear it today but it’s very traditional and I wanted to introduce it in my men’s wear line,” said Chauhan.

“For women wear line, I have again highlighted ‘kalis’. The garment will accentuate the techniques of inserting the kali and innovative way of using zari. We have developed nice way of using pure gold zari brocade as the fabric and it looks so rich that I am sure people will like it,” he added.