Sandhya Raman is a costume designer and founder of Desmania Foundation. She designs costumes for dancers practising contemporary as well as traditional dance forms. Raman is an alumnus of the National Institute of Design, (Ahmedabad) with a specialisation in Apparel and Textile Design. She recently did a two-day workshop on costume designing at the NCPA in Mumbai. Here, she talks about the challenges and evolution of the field.
Q\ Tell us a bit about yourself.
A\ I have been doing costumes for the last three decades for many dance forms across the globe, working with fabulous dancers and creative people. My work spans from doing the costuming to the sets to the detailing, depending on the production and the theme.
Q\ What are some of the most interesting projects you have done?
A\ It has been a wonderful journey. Initially, it was just styling and making costumes. But slowly, because I love dance, [I started incorporating] the movement of a performer through fabrics, textures and lines. Which costumes enhanced their dance and helped them communicate more effectively what they wanted to.
My first project was an Indo-American collaboration called Sounds of Tagore with Jonathan Hollander in 1991. We did more than 40 shows across India and the US. The production featured Mallika Sarabhai along with American ballet dancers.
When you see such professionalism at such a young age, you get inspired. So, I had a very different way in which I wanted to work with Indian dancers because I wanted the professionalism to come in. Costuming is still not a very sought-after profession. Fashion is, and the umbrellas are different. To establish a niche profession, you have to get the right ingredients of professionalism into it. That has been my dream all along.
I always feel anything you make has to have a reason for it, and not just immediate purpose of visual appreciation. There has to be more ethos and depth to it. What are the fabrics I am using? Am I including craftsmen who can add their skills to the beauty of the production? So, I am always looking out for people with that kind of creative talent and bringing them all together. The journey has been very versatile and encouraging.
Q\ How has the field evolved since you first started in 1991?
A\ Lots of things have changed. Earlier, for classical dance forms, people would just take their saris – they had their own concept of a five-piece dance dress – give it to a tailor, who would cut it whichever way and make a badly-finished product. I don’t want to undermine anyone’s work – there are some fabulous tailors – but when you have expertise, then the way you treat fabric is very different. The approach is different so the result is also very different.
So, when we started, I introduced new fabrics which were ergonomic. I paid attention to the finishing and the fitting of the costumes, taking into consideration the way the body moves. Each dance form has a different geometry to it. It is not like a kathak dancer can wear the same costume as a bharatnatyam dancer. It has to be cut in a certain way.
Initially, there was a lot of resistance to what we were trying to do. It is always difficult to break the mould and say: There has to be reason for what you are doing, taking into consideration concepts like storyboarding and colour and fabric palettes. Today, things have changed immensely. It has become so important because you don’t want clones onstage. How does the visual communication happen so that you retain the experience? Costuming is very experiential. I also call it making memories. If you go and see a show, you make a memory out of it, and costumes play a large role in that.
Q\ What are the current trends in costume designing?
A\ Lycra blouses, which I did in 1991, are very in now. So are a lot of dhotis, cotton silks and natural fabrics. A good fit is what people are looking for. You also have to have a nice, crisp look onstage. The shape of the body should be enhanced by the costume. If it is a sufi dance, then you are not looking at a body-fitting costume. Also, the theme guides you into the kind of costumes you want to do.
Q\ How did you get into costume designing?
A\ When I was young, I loved all kinds of dance forms. I come from Tamil Brahmin family. My father did not want me to take up dance professionally. I was studying design in NID when I met Jonathan [Hollander], who had come to India as a Fulbright scholar. I was the first graduate from NID in apparel design and I was doing my final collection. I did not want models with their perfect figures to showcase my designs. After all, it is you and me who are going to wear these clothes. I pondered over how gracefully I could show it. That’s when I got the idea of showcasing the collection through dancers. I also happened to hear a talk by Jonathan on how his wife was doing costume designing. Then I got an opportunity to work on a movie. That really charged me up and triggered my interest. You hear about a project and you do research, get inspired and work on it. Your own growth happens. That has been a wonderful journey.
Q\ What are the prospects for costume design in India?
A\ There are lots of prospects. Before you reach a certain level, you have to do many things. As a young designer, you have to use your acumen for many things. Maybe you have to design the jewellery also, or the visualisation for the makeup or the sets. You should be able to absorb anything that comes your way. You are constantly learning. Every new project is a new challenge. People just see the glitz of it, they do not see the real work behind it. There is so much hard work involved that you might even have a break-down.
