Kallol Datta

Kallol Datta's design process walks the line between art and fashion and involves intensive research and experimental pattern-cutting and design for each collection. In his bold contemporary collections for both men and women- often with anti-fit gender-less silhouettes- the Kolkata-based fashion designer mines the design of the abaya, the manteau, the hanbok, the hijab and the caftan. This ethos of storytelling through his collections has earned him a place on the sixth edition of the Jameel Prize- an award for contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic tradition- organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum London in partnership with Art Jameel.

Kolkata-based fashion designer Kallol Datta graduated in womenswear from Central St. Martins London in 2004 and followed it with a three-year course in Fashion Design from National Institute of Fashion Technology Kolkata.  Eponymous fashion label "Kallol Datta 1955" was launched in October 2007 and since then an extreme enthusiasm and provocation is visible in his collections married to exceptional technique.

In his own words 'a magpie when it comes to dressing, the garments made under the label reflects these tendencies and incorporate elements from a vast cultural reference.' The House's heritage is willful enough that you'd imagine Kallol Datta indulging his magpie sensibility to his heart's content. From prints as radical as bar codes, baby pacifiers and jail stripes in his spring summer 2011 collection to a five-layer jacket with knots at the neck and a genocide dress in his autumn winter 2010 collection, Datta's designs push the conventional boundaries of fashion. 

Per Vogue: "The crux of Datta's design process involves dissecting the relations between body and fabrics… he has experimented with native wear and reduced it to its contemporary best. As always, his clothes are a brooding reaction to the current zeitgeist (some would say, an extension of his personality)."

Kallol Datta's design aesthetic hovers on the fine line between fashion and art. Per Explosive Fashion: "His collections have hovered over a fine line between Fashion and art… If you know Kallol Datta even a little, you know his designs are an art of self-expression. Institutional dictate isn't his thing… Though he mentioned that the collection was a work in progress… it was refreshing to see some experimentation that will prove irresistible to his fans!"

Kallol Datta moved away from runway shows in 2017 and exhibited a series of textile installations at Experimenter as part of the exhibition ‘Random Access’. His exhibitions continued, with the most iconic ones at SOAS Library in London and a residency at the Aomori Contemporary Art Centre in Japan. During his extensive research in textile history, Kallol Datta was fascinated with apparel and accessories during the Showa Period in Japan after the Second World War in 1945. Here he perceived a parallel with the edicts issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini on women in Iran. The research culminated in his second exhibition Volume 3 Issue 2.

“The last clothing project I presented was Volume 2, 2019 and the last project I exhibited on a fashion week platform was Volume 1 Issue 2, 2018. The clothing I make is not informed by a need to create something away from the mainstream" he tells Grazia. "At the same time I acknowledge that I can operate in this manner because of privilege and the choices I've consciously made because of the same. I’ve worked for over a decade, making clothes to arrive at a point where I can interact with the mainstream when I choose to. To work on projects and create clothing that makes me happy and fulfilled."

Kallol Datta diversified into art in 2017. Per Vogue: "Though he has been at art residencies before and has even participated in select group shows, Datta made his first formal foray into the art world as an artist on August 10, with the opening of his debut solo 'Random Access' where his artworks revealed his longstanding interest in how the body adapts to the fabric form."

What is important to Kolkata-based fashion designer and artist Kallol Datta is that his collections have to harness the ‘now’. The narrative must make a statement on the current times- or his reaction to it. As non-mainstream his body of work may be, he perceives it as a part of the Indian design vocabulary. 
 

Kolkata-based fashion designer Kallol Datta brought his design aesthetic to life with edgy, bold anti-fit apparel. Sine the inception of his eponymous label he has promoted his collections as "sexless" emphasising that the cloth doesn't adapt to the wearer's body, the wearer's body adapts to the cloth. This remains his design vocabulary till date.

Kallol Dutta’s collections walk the fine line between art and fashion- often presented in anti-fit gender-less silhouettes that make a statement. A perfect example is his Spring Summer 2015 collection. Per Explosive Fashion: 'Using wispy georgettes layered over graffiti-printed fabrics, he sent out drawstring dresses with knee-length jackets, striped dresses layered with sheer fabrics, and wrap dresses in ecru, coffee, lavender and aubergine. For a woman tempted to look outside the standard remit of prêt, there could be something here worth investigating—deep maroon long shifts, draped trousers worn with cutaway tops that revealed erotically bared backs and saris embellished with sperm and jail prints…'