'If you want to pursue a career in design, you must be patient. Don't ever stop believing in yourself,' says Priyanka Nag, whose innovative knitwear collection won two awards at the seventh National Designer Awards.
In a world dominated by paid stylists and fashion influencers who are constantly telling you to chase what is trending in the market, meet Priyanka Nag, a young designer from Mumbai who is on a mission to redefine the idea of knitwear fashion in India.
Armed with a degree in knitwear design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, the 22 year old who recently won two awards at the World Designing Forum -- Best Designer and Most Avant-garde Collection Of The Year -- aims to make knitwear fashion more accessible, affordable and trendy for all ages.
Growing up in a home where both her grandmother and mother knitted, Priyanka says she was captivated by the craft even as a child.
"The fabric itself -- especially its textures, structure and versatility -- intrigued me," Priyanka, a first-generation designer, tells Divya Nair/Rediff.com.
She learnt to knit and experiment with different structures and patterns and her love for design and innovation led her to discover NIFT's knitwear design course.
"My goal was to get into any NIFT campus but knitwear was my priority," she says. Through determination and hard work, Priyanka cleared the entrance exam and secured a place at NIFT Kannur, Kerala, from where she graduated in 2024.
In her final semester, Priyanka had to decide whether to pursue an internship or create her own design collection from scratch. "I chose to take the risk and create my own collection," she reveals.
This meant she had to design an entirely knitted collection with at least five to seven garments from scratch; it wasn't easy.
Her inspiration for her maiden collection was to create awareness about knitwear's potential in India.
"When people think of knitwear, they usually just think of sweaters or winter garments," she explains. "But about 80 per cent of an average Indian's wardrobe consists of knitwear. There's so much more to explore beyond basic sweaters."
Her passion to redefine knitwear fashion encouraged her to design a collection that was both avant-garde and inspired by streetwear. Drawing cues from iconic fashion houses like Rick Owens and Balenciaga, the young designer crafted a line that, while extravagant and unconventional, was also sustainable.
Priyanka who is currently employed as a junior designer at D-Mart in Wagle Estate, Mumbai, tells us how she created and funded the entire collection that won her two design awards and put her collection on the cover of Business Today.
Tell us how you worked on the collection that won you two awards at the World Designing Forum.
I created the collection during my last four months in college. It's called Metal Melange and I showcased it at the final fashion show there.
While I played with different materials, I majorly used knitted denim; I wanted to show that it could also be used in streetwear. I also used Lycra coated fabric. It had a nice holographic shimmer.
There were a lot of metallic trims like buckles and different kinds of zippers, which is how I came up with the name Metal Melange.
The collection is basically a mixture of different metallic effects, fabrics and structures.
I used puffer polyester filling so it's all hand-sewn.
It took me hours to put together one garment. If you see in the pictures of the collection, there's a tiny bag; they are leg warmers. Those were filled with the leftover fabrics and threads; it was my effort to reduce waste.
If I had a little more time and if this was a little more structured collection, I would have used scraps instead of the cotton poly filling.
By God's grace, I won awards for the best design collection and the most innovative project. The jury panel said that my collection should not be limited to a college fashion show; it had much more potential. They encouraged me to sign up for the annual National Designer Awards organised by the World Designing Forum. It's similar to the Fashion Design Council Of India but it's a smaller community that brings together different designers and supports handlooms and weavers and has a better reach.
There are multiple categories and awards for upcoming, emerging and established designers.
I applied with my graduation collection and was nominated for two award categories: The most innovative project and the most avant-garde collection of the year. I won the latter. I also won the best designer of the year award in the upcoming category.
The forum's CEO told me that I was one of the youngest designers to win the award in that category so that was a great boost.
See: The Metal Melange collection
How did you fund the collection?
The entire collection must have cost approximately Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 because I sourced the fabrics from Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu.
I also tattoo and tried to fund the collection through the money I made through my hobby. I usually charge a small amount. And since many people in my college got tattoos made by me, I could use the money to buy the materials I needed.
What does the award mean to you?
The award is just a title. What's more important is that I got a platform.
My name was mentioned in an India Today news article as the winner for the best designer of the year in the upcoming category.
My project was also used as the cover for a Business Today article. The opening cover photo was a picture of my garments on the runway.
For a young designer like me, who has just started her fashion career, even the tiniest bit of exposure means a lot.
Considering how competitive the industry has become -- I see my friends and fellow designers struggle a lot make a name for themselves -- this win is special.
In the long run, I'm pretty sure these tiny achievements will add up.
I also had the chance to interact with a lot of designers from the North East and get their perspective about fashion, fabrics and textiles, Indian heritage and how they have been channelling their culture into their designs.
Altogether, it was a nice experience.
How do you plan to convert knitwear fashion into a trend in India?
I believe that when small projects and styling elements are marketed properly, they translate into trends. People who are more fashion-conscious or just people who are enthusiastic about fashion and trends stumble upon these and they slowly become popular.
Once it becomes a micro trend, brands are very quick to pick it up. They become a part of the brand language and help create profit. That is my aim too.
In streetwear, traditionally, you would only see very dark, grungy colours being used. I feel streetwear should also have pop colours. Everyone has a different taste when it comes to fashion.
I wanted the same to happen through my project.
I wanted people to see the pop of colour; bright, playful garments can translate well as streetwear pieces, eventually turning into a bigger trend.
Knitwear is not much spoken about in India because it was always procured either from Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. But, in the last decade, India has been doing great work in knitwear. We have multiple hotspots for knitwear like Ludhiana and Tiruppur.
They started with small machinery and small-scale fabric production mills which are now growing. Now that I am working in the retail industry, I see that companies also inclining more toward knits. Be it flat knits or circular ones, different types of structures and textures are getting appreciated.
India has slowly started to realise that you can play with structures and GSMs (grams per square metre) of fabrics and create more innovative garments.
Knitted shirts, for example, earlier used woven fabrics. Now, we are seeing brands making resort collar shirts for summer and winter with knitted fabrics.
H&M and Zara, brands that have a global youth appeal, are experimenting with halterneck tops and cargo skirts made from knitted fabric.
Knit is not just woollen, there is lycra, spandex, polyester, viscose, rayon, cotton and all sorts of blends which makes it a versatile, comfortable fabric to play with.
Who are the current designers whose work you admire?
In terms of prints, I really look out for Masaba Gupta because she has this very quirky sense of print designing. Even the usual simple polka dot prints has a distinct style. It's a really fresh outlook towards traditional prints.
When it comes to silhouettes and designing, I'm really inclined towards Anamika Khanna's designs.
Internationally, I really look out for brands like (Dutch fashion designer) Iris Van Herpen because it is avant garde and high fashion.
I also admire Maison Schiaparelli, Rahul Mishra and Gaurav Gupta.
Your message to aspiring graduates in design?
If you want to pursue a career in design, you must be patient.
Don't ever stop believing in yourself. There will be a lot of hurdles but you have to work your way through them.
Do not lose hope; just keep going. You will definitely reach the goal you are looking out for because that's what has happened to me.
I was so close to giving up because life was getting very stagnant. I was not seeing any growth in my fashion experience or career. Then, the competition happened. So just keep going.
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