Second Life

Designer AMIT HANSRAJ's label Inca gave him a new lease on life in the fashion industry - one he is choosing to live on his own terms

- Ashwini Arun Kumar

Delhi-based Amit Hansraj has spent so much time behind the scenes, including backstage at fashion weeks, that, when the time came for him to emerge on the runway at this year's Lakme Fashion Week X FDCI as the designer for Inca, he felt out of sorts. "When they called my name, a realisation hit that my job had ended."

Amit recalls. "I didn't have to get the models to change out of their garments and pack them!" Industry folks - dressed in the label's signature terrazzo floor-inspired patterns who had crossed paths with him in his two-decade-long career in the industry gathered to show their support for Inca's first fashion week outing.

Dia Mirza backed the sustainable brand by walking the ramp in a black sari x dress hybrid design from the Love is a Verb collection, which also featured kaftan dresses, slouchy coordinated separates and other sari-like outfits.

With no embellishments or excessive karigari to turn to, with the exception of strategically-placed handmade shibori and kantha embroidery details, the collection championed fabric that was masterfully manipulated as drapes and knots to take the shape of the wearer's body. Any body.

Amit Hansraj started Inca, short for incarnation, in 2020, during the pandemic, as a label offering clothes to anybody who wanted to wear them.