Amritha Ram reimagines Khadi for global fashion with KH House of Khadar’s new collection

At the Runway Seven Fashion Awards in New York on September 14 this year, a feature film accompanied KH House of Khadar’s showcase of its latest collection Sutura. The clatter of wooden looms and the rhythm of weavers at work set the stage and the mood before the models clad in khadi began walking. At the fashion awards, the lable won in the Best Ready-to-Wear Collection category.

KH House of Khadar takes khadi beyond its familiar associations with handloom and sustainability, and places it firmly in a language of contemporary fashion. For Amritha Ram, the label’s creative dorector, the fabric is a canvas that can be shaped and reimagined without losing its identity.

“We did not want to carry the preconceived notion that comes with khadi. Sometimes, a fabric comes with a tag, and letting go of it takes a very long time. We considered it just as a canvas, and it is up to the artist approaching it to decide whether they are going to do charcoal, oil or something else,” she says. 

Outfit from the new collection
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

For Amritha, this meant moving away from the familiar visual language of khadi and exploring how the fabric could find a place in global fashion. The latest collection, Sutura, puts that idea into practice, challenging the perception that khadi must look a certain way. 

The brand challenged this notion at its first fashion week in Paris, where the showcase was entirely made up of colour-blocked khadi fashion, which were all dyed using sustainable organic dyes.

The new collection however, brings together undyed khadi in its natural colour, khadi denim, and vegetable leather. Rather than leaning on traditional silhouettes, the pieces explore how the fabric can be shaped into contemporary, wearable designs. “The whole idea when we wanted to present it in New York was that it should connect with people. We wanted to create something that was neither exactly couture nor streetwear, but a blend that would actually connect with people,” she says. 

Amritha Ram, creative director of House of Khadar
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

At KH House of Khadar, fabric collaborations are opening up new ways to work with the textile without compromising on sustainability. The label has experimented with tencel and is exploring sustainable lycra blends that could expand the structural possibilities of khadi. “Today, fabric has gone beyond emotions and boundaries into science, and that is very exciting,” she says, adding that as a designer, the possibility to explore fabric collaborations without compromising on sustainability is important. 

The next chapter for KH House of Khadar is taking shape in Kutch. Amritha is working on a collection centred on Kutch embroidery, an entirely new territory for the label. “When you add elements of distress and repairs, you need to be extremely careful that the heart of the fabric is preserved. It has been challenging, but this is very exciting. As much as I look forward to every single collection of mine, this is something I am really looking forward to presenting,” she says.

Outfit from the new collection
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Alongside fashion, Amritha continues to work on film costumes, a practice that she approaches differently from designing for the runway. She is currently working on Kalki 2, with portions featuring Kamal Haasan already underway, and two more films under Raaj Kamal Films International are in the pipeline. 

“Both are things I love doing: fashion and films. When it comes to films, it depends on the entire team, what the character requires and what you want to give. With fashion, it is up to what you want to give to the world of fashion.” Balancing the two, she says, keeps her in a happy space.