INTERNSHIP AT AMIT AGGARWAL (7th January 2020 - 7th March 2020)
ABOUT AMIT AGGARWAL
After graduating from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi in 2002, Amit Aggarwal showcased his collections through student competitions around the world and soon began working with some of India’s most accomplished designers, such as Tarun Tahiliani. He then headed the design team of Creative Impex, part of the Creative Group, before starting MORPHE in 2008, in collaboration with the Creative Group. In May 2012, he launched his eponymous label ‘Amit Aggarwal’.
ABOUT THE BRAND
The core of couture label Amit Aggarwal lies in moulding and freezing amorphous forms into structures. Industrial materials are the basis of their clothing – they are thoroughly transformed by hand done techniques into intricate garments with a definite shape, which further beautifies a woman’s figure. His ready-to-wear line, AM.IT is a duet of his understanding of organic and what he has already been doing in couture, which is driven by industrial materials.
He has been showcasing Amit Aggarwal couture at Paris Fashion Week through private showroom exhibitions over the past eight years. It takes time for a viewer to apprehend his clothing and be ready to buy it. Over a period of time, the brand is now available in 18 countries including India, Kuwait, Germany and Panama and cities like London and Dubai. In India they retail through their flagship store at the Kila, New Delhi and stores like Ensemble, Aza and Atosa.
FIRST FASHION SHOW He had his debut fashion show at India Fashion Week which in 2012. Amit Aggarwal showcased at India Couture week for the first time in 2018. The collection was named 'Crystalis', inspired by the formation of crystals and butterfly’s cocoons. The designer had taken his inspiration from “two wondrous natural phenomena, the formation of crystals at a molecular level and the enveloping of the metallic chrysalis around a butterfly cocoon”. The collection’s colour palette included rose quartz jewel tones, silver onyx, emerald, amethyst, topaz, and sapphire, as a nod to the crystals that inspired the collection. Metallic shades of rose gold, silver, pewter, and light gold were also featured.
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS In September 2011, he showcased his line in Paris in collaboration with Aveda, for a hair and makeup trend show. His work was exhibited at the Arken Museum in Copenhagen showcasing the future of Art and Fashion from August 2012 until January 2013. He was recently invited by TED in India for a talk on fashion, its future, and his journey so far.
His debut fashion show at India Fashion Week was heralded as one of the best shows of 2012 by Vogue India, while Marie Claire India and Elle India both announced him as the best young Indian designer. He was invited by the Dutch DFA to Amsterdam to be part of a design delegation and is a finalist for the British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur Award.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The infrastructure is very well constructed. Keeping in mind the convenience of the workers. There are in total 7 floors divided into different production and sampling ones. There is one design room and a show room for the display of garments for clients.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE There are 3 senior designers in womenswear and one assistant designer which is a team of 4. There is one senior designer in menswear. There is a Merchandising and a PR team responsible for styling, promotion and client handling.
BRAND AESTHETICS Materials that they generally use in Amit Aggarwal are Sequin Patti, Leather cords, Polan tube, Zig zag tape. In fabrics, they manipulate with different fabrics like butterfly net, zig zag mesh, neoprene and Gattu.
LAKMÉ FASHION WEEK
Lakmé Fashion week was a great opportunity for us to have the kind of exposure we wanted. It helped us understand the design process followed in the industry. We also got to know closely the aesthetics of the brand and how to work under pressure. This time, Amit Aggarwal did the grand finale show collectively with Lakmé. There were a total of 60 garments in which 11 were menswear and the rest were womenswear.
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EMBROIDERY WORK
There were 2 rooms for embroidery, one for sampling and one for production. The embroidery used was both machine and hand. In machine embroidery, the main trims used were leather cord, twisted dori, zig zag tape among many. For hand embroidery, the main trims were cutdana, stones.
KHAKHA WORK
In KHAKHA work, we had to make khakha for different garments keeping In mind the silhouette and proportions. For menswear, the khakhas were mainly made by me with Masterji’s help. Pinning and chappai had to take place once the khakha is made.
STITCHING AND HAND LADY
The stitching process was divided into different departments due to the work load and the hand work such as weaving was done by hand ladies.
SNIPPETS FROM THE FINAL COLLECTION
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DIFFERENT COLLECTIONS -
Other than LakmĂŠ, I also worked in the Paris fashion week SS/2020 for the womenswear collection. I also worked on the Pret SS/2020 Line for Amit Aggarwal preparing the file and the swatches. For LakmĂŠ fashion week SS/2020, I even got the swatches made for the womenswear collection in the initial days of my internship. It was a great experience working for all the collections and understanding the design process.
MY OWN PROJECT BASED ON AMIT AGGARWAL
This has been done by me personally after taking experience from the designer. This is a hypothetical project done. I have taken the same inspiration of wildflowers, transparency and mermaids. I even developed an inspiration and mood board and made a collection out of it for menswear, mainly because I worked in the menswear department in my internship period.
WEEKLY LOGS FOR THE 2 MONTHS PERIOD OF INTERNSHIP
WEEK 1 On my first day I was helping the womenswear team complete their line sheet for LakmĂŠ. I even got some of the swatches made with the tailors. Initially, it was a little difficult knowing the materials and the trims the brand uses. But eventually, I got familiar with them. I even made a handover file for the Pret S/S 20 and got the swatches made for the same. I even went out for souring of some fabrics that they wanted for the show to Nehru Place.
WEEK 2 In the second week, we started the menswear collection and the sampling and swatch making. I also made many Khakas for embroidery on the collection and learnt techniques from the Masterji who makes them. I also helped the team with an installation for the LakmĂŠ show. Amit Aggarwal has currently collaborated with LakmĂŠ for the grand finale show on 16th for which there was a launch show. We helped them make a mood board for that.
WEEK 3 This week, the collection for LakmĂŠ started in process and the elements started getting stitched. This week, I again went for sourcing for a menswear fabric that could not be sourced easily. I even helped the team with the Paris collection. There were some digital prints that we had to get printed from a vendor in Noida. It was a great learning experience for me to know about digital printing.
WEEK 4 This week, there was a lot of execution which was required as the final garments were in process and they had to be sent for fittings on the 9th. For this, we had to coordinate with the Masterjis’ for different elements. We also helped in a client fitting which was required. There were some AM.IT design garments that had to be taken care of.
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OVERALL EXPERIENCE
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