Fashion illustrator and artist Maria Chumak can’t remember a time when she wasn’t a stickler for perfection and comfort of the pattern. Armed with close to two decades of experience in the field of fashion, design, drawing and illustration coupled with her stint in Russia, USA, Ukraine, Europe, Middle East and now in Asia, egged her on to unleash her creative flair on various mediums: painting-drawing, fashion illustration, book illustration, textile, conceptual fashion and many travel books.
Maria is set to impart gems of wisdom in an upcoming workshop — that covers contemporary fashion, global trends, and fashion illustration — for the students of Vogue Institute of Art and Design in Bengaluru. The illustrator gets chatty with DH Living in a free-wheeling interview.
What’s your take on fashion in Bengaluru?
Bengaluru has changed since I visited last. I was working in the city from 2011 to 2015 and going by what I’ve seen, it has developed to an impressive extent. Unfortunately, I feel the quantity of production has had an (adverse) impact on the weather condition. It’s about time we all make more conscious choices.
Take us through your observations about the current global trends.
After 2015, fashion tilted towards being more comfortable, less risky in shapes, details and colour scheme. Women adopted menswear details since the first YSL tuxedo smoking. Prints are borrowed from womenswear on men’s shirts. Gender neutrality is one of the themes “en vogue”.
Now it can be seen that fashion lifespan stretches and big companies don’t want to take a risk with extravagance orientated on fads.
For the upcoming season, we will see an accent on the volumes, exaggeration on the details — sleeves, collars. Polka dots and stripes are more favoured because they can be used in men’s and women’s outfits as well. The similarity of the colours can be traced from season to season.
In the upcoming summer, we will see more neon highlights on dusty colours. Designers work more on texture and not the colour. Crochet, tiers, elaborated synthetic leather, fur and feathers, fringe will be again dominant.
In the future, the idea of the simplest shapes and elaborated new technology fibre fabrics which will embrace the shape of our body and react to the outside temperature will be explored.
How would you describe your style?
I like to work with the transparency of the net fabric (printed or embroidered) and opacity of the cotton or rayon. I’m very keen about the comfort and perfection of the pattern. I used to give my prototyped piece for trial to different people with different body shapes of the same size to make sure that it can be adapted well by everyone. In the fashion industry, there have been many cases when the pattern was tried on dress form or with the help of the software and then while trying no one can find where the waistline and bust-line were. Perfection is in the perfect fitting and using skin-friendly fabrics which give confidence and provides comfort to the one who wears it. With experience, I observed that timeless pieces last longer and can be passed from generation to generation.
Recently, I made two collections but faced an issue with production costs. Making a small quantity is extremely expensive and with the new taxation system on sales, it will be hard to recover the effort. My advice to students is to start from small business but start as a group and not work individually because it will be hard to face market competitors who can afford to produce on a large scale and drop the production cost.
There’s a transition from fast fashion to sustainable fashion across the globe — are common people equipped to make the switch?
It will take time. The change has begun, but there is still a long way to go. In India, so many local tailors are involved in the fashion scene so the switch can be introduced differently and it can go faster. For instance, for buying daily outfits in commonwealth countries, people go to big brands employed by hundreds and thousands of people.
People in India prefer customised clothing — stitched garments that are made-to-measure. We must milk on this trend. In India, the access, even the customised apparel, is easy to make for the local tailor. The switch to sustainability the Indian way might be different. Knowledge is imperative. People should be aware and realise if buying expensive jeans and the amount of water used to wash them is worth it. Go local — local fabric also enables employment for local people. At least on a small scale, we can make a change.
According to you, being fashionable is...
Being fashionable to me is about being comfortable, being unique and embracing your own sense of style. You need to be clued up about global trends, but also make your own style and timeless pieces. Everyone needs two outfits — work and traditional. It’s crucial to put enough thought before buying. One must have staples: it can be a good pair of jeans or linen pants, white T-shirt, and a comfortable jacket. Millennials and young adults should also consider reusing garments. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how many garments can be made from one saree. Most importantly, irrespective of what you choose to wear, the garment should be comfortable and you should feel free and you should be yourself.
(Maria Chumak is currently working in Pondicherry Central University and has completed her PhD research on ‘Iconography of the Women in Eastern Art forms’. She is an illustrator represented by Spinning Yarn Reps and works for clients in USA, UK, France and Middle East)