BY ARYA

With the whistles of the pressure cooker and sizzling papadums humming in the background
A KABOODLE and SNOODLE would sound as I scuttled across the cold floors
Of my grandparent’s house to their wardrobe.
Looking over my shoulder with a devilish grin, I’d carefully open the doors
The swirls of fragrant jasmine above my head would surrender
to the pungency of Grandpas mothballs.
Mothballs, the protectors of Grandpa’s flawlessly stacked 15 shirts of the year.
Wearing a cloud puffed crown at the summit of the pile would be his new.

BY ARYA is a potpourri of nostalgia, fables, and memories wrapped into one. Having been raised across the globe, understandings of our rich culture and heritage came from the tangibilities, idiosyncrasies, and tales that were chips of our family pieced together. Every collection embarks on the odyssey of exploring Indian culture through the lens of a diasporic persona.

Kaboodle is a capsule collection exploring the concept of slow-fashion, nostalgia, and the quintessential shirt. This case study of a shirt illustrates the lineaments that make a shirt we adore through our Kaboodle, Snoodle, and Cloud Puff color story. We narrate the nostalgic story of a grandfather’s fifteen pristine shirts and his inspiring slow-fashion pride, and his granddaughter’s fascination with him.

Coming together through linear and organic cuts, traditional kantha hand-embroidery techniques, organic satins, mulls, and poplins, hundreds of hours of hand-embroidery on eight iconic pieces are presented.