There’s a certain serenity that comes from meeting designer Anavila Misra. Perhaps it has something to do with her warm eyes and easy demeanour. But even when one doesn’t see her, if one is at her store or her fashion show, it’s the same calm. If you see a person wearing an Anavila outfit too, it’s the same sense of balminess. It is almost as if the person has become the brand, and the brand has become a mood. It’s a sensory thing, and perhaps she should launch her own perfume, to close this loop.
What Misra has launched instead is a furnishings line. Beautiful neutrals, soft linens and demure items that cosy up a home as if it’s a sunny garden.
“Actually, I have been doing furnishings for 10 years now, and I have been quietly participating in the trade show Maison&Objet for as long,” she says. “I just thought our Indian homes are so grand, and my minimal style would not work here. But after the pandemic, I feel people want comfort and calm in their living spaces. Homes are not just for entertaining, they are for ourselves too,” she says.
The Anavila (the designer’s first name is her brand name) home line comprises cushions, bed and table linen and other beautiful pieces. “Ninety per cent of it is linen for decorations and the bed. There are also silk velvets, khadi from West Bengal and kala cotton from Bhuj,” she adds.
The home line was launched recently at Maison Isa in Hyderabad’s Leela hotel. It is not yet available online. The designer also launched her new collection ‘Sarmast’ in Hyderabad. Sarmast is Persian for ‘intoxicated’, and refers to the poetic ecstasy in the courts of the nizams of Hyderabad, known to be among the richest families in the world. It is inspired by ‘wajd’ or a state of rapture of the Sufis.
From her new home line
Misra’s signature linen saris, some with metallic threads woven into or embroidered on them, were draped with European silhouettes, especially those of Rococo and Baroque aesthetics. The designer has teamed the opulence of the nizams with those of European nobility. Linens, silks, organzas and brocades romance Chantilly laces, crochet details, collars and leg-o-mutton sleeves. There were jackets, shirts and blouses, with the sari draped as a gown or then a skirt.
“When I was researching my previous collection in Chettinad that took me to much of Asia and the east, I began to understand the differences of the east from the west, too. The nizams of Hyderabad were internationally renowned and travelled; they dressed in great finery. Even their chambermaids were dressed up. Collars were very important in womenswear, too. And so was inner wear. If one watches films of the period and see the noble women getting undressed by their chambermaids, one can see how gorgeous their inner wear is. Hence, I used a lot of bralettes with transparent chemises, to express that,” Misra explains. “The flowers and bouquets of course came from western buildings and architecture.”
The collection was showcased at the lobby of the Leela hotel, with a decadent grazing table of cheeses, nuts, fresh fruit, and many flowers, designed by the famed decorator Devika Narain.
In the nearly 15 years since her label launched, Misra has built herself a very strong signature. Her clothes are soft and summery, in natural textiles with spring’s florals either block-printed, painted and then screen printed or woven into the textiles. How does one stay so consistently true to one’s design codes for so many years, one wonders.
“When you are low profile and live in your own bubble, it protects you from going haywire,” she laughs. “I’ve created my own little universe for myself and feed from only that. Then, our linkages with our artisans—whether it is the women in Jharkhand who do our applique work, or the weaver in Bengal who does our linen saris—we have been working with the same people from the start. I don’t move away from clusters, it is a responsibility. I don’t do project-based work as then there is no social enterprise in place. If my tools remain the same, my work remains consistent,” she explains.
Her work immediately found many fans. Sonam Kapoor wears her saris just the way Misra drapes them in her shoots. Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone, Dia Mirza, Rasika Dugal, Tillotama Shome and Konkona Sen are her regulars.
Misra says she can describe her design code in three or four words. “Comfort is one, as it is important in everything I do,” she says. “The second is rootedness; clothes have to evolve from a story. Even our bralettes that were worn under chemises stand for something,” she says. “The third is local narratives. Like a wall art is the story of my artisans and the way they live, and their ancestors lived. I want to speak their language. I forget what bougainvilla means, they call it the kagaz bahar and now so do I. Local stories are important to us. The fourth is pushing boundaries. We keep our textile innovations going, our linen keeps getting better, we use different washes for organza and we are mindful about using real zari.”
Misra had earlier told me that she had begun to design for herself only, and wanted to change that. “The scope of my brand must be bigger than me. When I see young girls who work in the studio, I am inspired by them. I can’t just create for myself or women like me, it has to be bigger and beyond me,” she smiles.
The new collection has been designed especially with a younger audience in mind. Misra has also launched children’s wear and is toying with the idea of a menswear line too.