Tamil script weaves a new identity in fashion

Time of India

2 days ago

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In Tamil Nadu, language has always been a hot topic. Now, it's haute as well.
Case in point: Chennai-based designer Vivek Karunakaran's latest collection Idam (Tamil for 'place'), which debuted in Feb at the FDCI India Men's Week in Jaipur, featuring the Tamil script as individual letters and complete Thirukkural couplets.
Karunakaran says the collection began as a tribute to the city, but from there, the thread of the narrative evolved into a celebration of identity, "an unapologetic expression of who we are and where we come from". He adds that the collection is being expanded to include women's wear. "It's declaration of pride."
In one look, Karunakaran has a verse of the Kural block-printed on a jacket paired with Korean pants. "We've gone beyond just printing the alphabet to creating meaningful designs," says Karunakaran, whose clothes are priced between Rs 6,000 and Rs 60,000.
Designers from outside Tamil Nadu too are scripting the language into their couture. In Mumbai, actor Sonam Kapoor was recently spotted in a cream saree designed by Masaba, which had the Tamil letters, 'th', 'na' and more in black and gold.
"The Tamil script has a unique visual ap peal," says Karthiknathan S, a graphic designer who specialises in Tamil lettering. "With almost 216 distinct characters, there is a lot of visual diversity."
He adds that when Tamil was adapted into a font, ascenders and descenders were adjusted for visual consistency. "As a result, words and sentences form patterns with varying heights and depths. Depending on the preceding or following letter, ascenders or descenders are altered, creating intriguing patterns.
It pushes the possibilities of what can be done with the Tamil letter".
This, perhaps, explains why Tamil-script clothes have been well received, even by those unfamiliar with the language, says Dubai-based designer Vino Supraja, who has incorporated it into her collection 'Purisai', named after the Purisai Nadaga Pairchi Palli, a therukoothu school founded by Kannapa Sambandhan Ayya, who was awarded the Padma Shri this year.
She adds that the appeal is so universal that most of her clients for the collection are Emiratis and Singaporeans, not Tamilians.
"After our London Fashion Week show, the script became a conversation starter. It gave us a chance to discuss Tamil language, therukoothu, and Purisai's cultural richness. The Tamil script is the visual anchor," says Supraja, who grew up in Vandavasi, 10km from Purisai, where her father served as a doctor.
Supraja also wore a saree featuring the school's name in her handwriting when she received the Glob al Sustainable Trailblazer Award recently at the House of Commons.
Mayank Bhutra, a designer from Rajasthan raised in Erode (which is why he has named his brand Erode), says using the Tamil script in his clothes is about celebrating the place where he grew up. "We're in the process of developing our own typeface for the clothes, blending Tamil and English in a contemporary design," says Bhutra, who adds that as a child, he saw Jamakalam weavers at work and was fascinated.
When he returned to the craft as an adult, he realised that despite years of tradition and a GI tag, there were no new designs or patterns. And that, he adds, was when he decided to help script Jamakalam a "contemporary identity".