Payal Singhal launches a special festive collection with Delhi-based fashion label Indya. We speak to both the designer and the Co-Founder of Indya about the ‘Payal Singhal touch’, the importance of festivewear, and the boom in online fashion retail.

PAYAL SINGHAL FOR INDYA – festivewear

Heralding the Summer and the intimate wedding season hereafter, Delhi label Indya has launched a summer festive collection in collaboration with designer Payal Singhal (whose Spring Summer 2021 collection was seen at the FDCI x Lakme Fashion Week). It can be festivewear, or occasionwear for the bridesmaid in mind, with touches of Bohemian eclat married with Indya’s playfulness. A sorbet colour palette of blush pink, mint, powder blue, and grey with pops of lemon yellow and navy have been spruced with Payal Singhal’s trademark gypset and tribal embellishments for an end-result that is equal parts playful and poised. We speak to designer Payal Singhal and Tanvi Malik, Co-Founder, Indya.

Designer Payal Singhal

Lifestyle Insider: How did the collaboration with you and Indya come about?

Payal Singhal: Our endeavour has always been to be an all-encompassing label that offers something for everyone at every price point. We wanted to do a collection that makes the Payal Singhal signature more approachable and attainable, and for that, Indya made for the perfect brand to work with.

LI: What do you like most about Indya?

PS: Their clothes are glamorous, current, and affordable made for a woman who is a modern, confident, independent, and who is a stylish global citizen. Fashion is a form of self-expression for her, and this is exactly the kind of woman we as a label design for.

LI: What was your concept behind this capsule collection?

PS: We wanted to create a collection for the New Age bridesmaid. In this fresh line of celebratory wear, you'll see a modern Indian sensibility and Bohemian edge blend with Indya’s playful elegance and current designs.

PAYAL SINGHAL FOR INDYA - a contemporary lehenga

LI: What was the inspiration you drew from, and what was your colour palette for Summer Festive? What are the fabrics used?

PS: A sorbet colour palette of blush pink, mint, powder blue, and grey with pops of lemon yellow and navy have been spruced with Payal Singhal’s trademark gypset and tribal embellishments for an end result that is equal parts playful and poised.

LI: It's interesting that it is meant for the bridesmaid - what are the particular silhouettes that are on trend, like jumpsuits, shararas, pre-stitched sarees?

PS: The capsule comprises of 64 stylish separates including drop crotch pants, shararas, jumpsuits, pre-stitched saris, jackets, tops, kurtas, and dupattas. Forming the building blocks of a festive wardrobe, the separates can be pieced together to create stunning head-to-toe looks or worn separately with existing closet pieces.

PAYAL SINGHAL FOR INDYA - modern silhouettes

LI: Moving forward, are these outfits what will be in huge demand in the future because they are easy to wear?

PS: Yes absolutely, Ready to wear pieces which are versatile with a great rewear value and affordable are always in demand. This collection captures all the right elements - versatility, fuss-free separates and affordable.

PAYAL SINGHAL FOR INDYA - occasionwear with an Indian touch

LI: What is the Payal Singhal touch that you bring to the capsule?

PS: Every piece in this collection embodies a Signature PS bestselling silhouette carefully researched with keeping in mind the kind of silhouettes that have appealed to girls all over the world. So right from the silhouettes to our signature prints each piece has a PS touch.

Tanvi Malik, Co-Founder, High Street Essentials Pvt. Ltd.

LI: How do you like the results of the collaboration with Payal Singhal? What do you like the best about the capsule?

Tanvi Malik: Given that the market is still recovering from COVID and uncertainty that had taken over 2020, we were quite unsure of launching a designer capsule at this point. Fortunately, the situation got better, and the festivities, though intimate, turned around in full swing. The collection was timed well and we can safely say it has performed beyond our expectations. With versatile separates that are light, functional, and innately glamourous, and of course priced very well, the collection hits just the right spot.

PAYAL SINGHAL FOR INDYA - prestitched saris for the modern bridesmaid

What I love most about the Payal Singhal for Indya line is that it is a refreshing mix of style, relevance, and affordability. It is utilitarian and not just stylish for the sake of making a statement, answering very well the question of where, how, and how many times. You’ll see fuss-free yet glam separates that form the building blocks of an occasionwear wardrobe. They can be pieced together to create head-to-toe looks or can be worn over and over paired with existing pieces from your closet - think drop-crotch pants, jumpsuits, pants, and skirts with sari drapes, jackets, and statement shararas and kurtas. The colours are fresh and timeless, and the embellishments and prints are playful, yet very poised.

LI: Have you had previous collaborations with designers for Indya?

TM: We worked with Nikhil Thampi in 2019 on a collaborative Diwali collection which did extremely well in both, the Indian and international markets. That collection opened up a new whole lot of premium customers for us.

LI: Who is your target audience?

TM: Our target audience is a 20 to 40-year-old multitasking modern Indian woman for whom fashion is a form of self-expression. She is exposed to global fashion through social media and has a discerning sense of style. Unlike her generational predecessors, she only wants what is new and now and frequently refreshes her wardrobe to avoid looking dated. She’s anyone whose open to experimenting with clothes that are functional, comfortable, and at the same time effortlessly stylish and glamourous.

LI: What is the USP of fashion at Indya?

TM: At Indya, we design clothes keeping in mind the changing needs and choices of the millennial Indian woman who wants to update her traditional ethnicwear with elements that are current and in line with what’s happening from a global fashion point of view. We look at reinventing Indianwear with glamorous and fuss-free clothes that are modern in styling and yet hark back to their roots. Our clothes move beyond the staid silhouettes of the traditional salwar kameez, skirts, and kurtas to bring in a more wearable and fusion twist. We break the cultural code by presenting easy and glam maxi skirts instead of lehengas, pre-stitched saris with modern elements like ruffles and tiers, jumpsuits with attached drapes, and crop tops that move beyond the traditional choli.

PAYAL SINGHAL FOR INDYA - lehengas styled in a modern way

LI: Is your focus mostly festivewear, and why is that?

TM: The reason we started Indya is that we saw a large gap in the Indian festivewear market. on the one hand, you have designers whose collections aren’t accessible to the average Indian girl, and on the other, you have smaller unorganized boutiques that have longer turnaround times and aren’t necessarily up with the trends. Making an organized high street retail model for Indian festivewear at a budget was the thought we based brand Indya on. So yes, traditionally our focus has been more on festive wear.

Having said that, we now provide a 360-degree wardrobe solution for the modern woman’s Indianwear needs. Our clothes have a global appeal, be it in terms of silhouettes, colours, or prints. We branched out into casual and evening wear a year back and also launched a line of light, cotton-based loungewear in 2020 when everyone started working from home.

LI: How has online shopping surged since the pandemic?

TM: One of the first things to change in the wake of COVID-19 was the shift from offline to online commerce. Even after the lifting of lockdowns, Online retail continued to grow and acquire new audiences who have discovered the convenience and ease of transacting online. Even at this point, online sales dwarf offline sales for us, and whereas we have seen a solid recovery of offline retail with the festive season, Online retail is still going to continue to be the larger channel for us for the next few months at least.

LI: What kinds of logistics do you need for Indya, and where are you based?

TM: We are based in Noida where we have a centralized warehouse that services all our online and offline orders.

We forecast the demand for the season based on the performance of styles and surges and dips that we have historically seen and accordingly manage production. Our supply chain is agile enough for us to work on a very lean inventory model and manage replenishment and production when we see demand surge for any particular style.

We plan offline buys in advance with the initials drops for every season, and service replenishments once a month. For online, we dispatch orders from our warehouse inventory within 24 hours of receiving the order. We have tied with all key last-mile logistic partners to ensure orders reach our customers within the said time period.

(This collection is available in sizes XS to 4XL selectively, and it has something for every experimental and fashion-forward woman out there.Price: INR 1,200 – INR 4,950. Available at:www.houseofindya.com ; Indya exclusive brand stores pan-India. Select Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Central and Iconic store).