Textile, politics and the path ahead.
“This search for a national culture often leads to a blind alley. It becomes a formalism, a sterile repetition of the past.”
We expect more and more of our authors. We hear them on podcasts, we hear about the book, sometimes before we have even read the book. The writer, once, was meant to be a solitary figure. But what if the writer were anonymous? In this essay, @skyita looks at the cult of authorship and the demands placed upon our writers.
@skyita on authorship and anonymity in the digital age.
The logic of the market reduces both artists and workers to financial profiles: identities legible not as people, but as spenders (that is, consumers) or products (that is, earners). On the one hand, it demands authorship as a performance of personhood where every act must be readable and justifiable under a personal ‘brand’. On the other, it renders invisible the labour of AI workers, the ghostwriters of the machine age.
“The textiles Kumra develops with artisans across India are raw in texture. Even when lined with bemberg, the textiles retain a certain stiffness. The palette draws from the India of the road, with its dusty and rust-coloured hues, its deep red and tobacco. Paisley recurs on bombers, trousers and linings–a nod to nostalgia. In an India looking to shed its traditional motifs, Kumra recalls these symbols, packaging them for a global market. His stockists include Selfridges, Harrods, and Mr Porter. A jacket retails for $850. If there is such a thing as artisanal prêt from India at Western prices, Kartik Research attempts to make a compelling case.
Marketing is Kumra’s strong suit, where his economics background shines through. Kumra came from nowhere, with no formal fashion education and no industry network, but he had a singular plan—to make it as a designer. He has managed to get in with the right crowds, placing Kartik Research, launched in 2021 during the pandemic, within a global conversation while speaking from India.”
On @kartikresearch and his ascent in the world of fashion
Styling @jameslalthanzuala and soundtrack @notsudan
Featuring
@nishchay__singh , @gauravgharu_ , @nasir_flying , @amansharma_11.11 , @kunaalxg_ , @amit_eapen , @vedant_kudtarkar , @rajyavardhannsingh , sharathchandradas_, @pratikumbhar_ , @thehimalayansoil , @kaintoman , @oz.zair , @mehquen , @tejassanand , @yuganshagarwall , @samitshetty , @ayushh.sharrmaa , @husenkhan_16 , @sufi__16
Images @crazytoshco
The question is no longer whether Indian craft belongs on the global stage, but rather who- and-what-we choose to applaud for. Bestowing easily recognisable faces who already have access with more of it is hardly a thing to celebrate. Can we also centre those who don’t play directly to the capitalist galleries?
@versace@emrata
