Indie slow-fashion brand myKynd celebrates the mundu

Indie sluggish trend model myKynd elevates the Kerala mundu into one thing greater than an off white every-day piece of garment. It performs with color, cloth and elegance, coaxing the unassuming mundu to push its boundaries. 

Unmesh Dasthakhir launched myKynd along with his co-founder and “muse” Senna Rasool in September 2024 as a curated vary of hand-woven, locally-produced mundus that lend themselves to the wearer’s particular person model. Unmesh explores cloth, utilizing the effective Jamdani and even linen. Utilizing daring swathes of color, and prints, these mundus straddle informal and formal put on worlds with poise. Hand block prints, jacquard, natural-indigo-dyed and reversible types, the repertoire is contemporary. The Kerala kasavu seems too, reimagined in color and with block prints.

“The thought, nonetheless, is to not stand out, however mix in,” asserts Unmesh.

Whereas he’s the inventive head of the model, Senna, an engineer, is its “left mind”. A multidisciplinary artist and photographer with a grasp’s diploma in design from NIFT, Delhi, Unmesh was within the company sector for over 25 years, working with textile and attire producers and trend retail manufacturers in India. 

Unmesh Dasthakhir and Senna Rasool
| Photograph Credit score:
Clint Soman

He took a break and ventured into consultancy, working with the Khadi board, providing design assist for a marketing campaign to make the Khadi enchantment to the youthful demographic. “That was how I acquired reacquainted with Khadi and handloom,” says Unmesh. 

A handloom color mundu
| Photograph Credit score:
Clint Soman

Whereas his work took him to trend and textile festivals in numerous elements of the world, he was equally in contact with weavers’ societies, artisans and designers throughout India. The journey to myKynd, he says, was natural. As an preliminary experiment earlier than the launch of the model, he acquired the Kanhirode Weavers’ Co-operative Society in Kannur to weave indigo mundus and the top merchandise have been refreshingly good. “The weavers took a while to heat as much as the concept and my designs, however they delivered,” provides Unmesh. The model believes in moral labour practices. 

Mundu paired with jackets
| Photograph Credit score:
Clint Soman

The designs are edgy and up to date, but stylish. They are often styled with shirts, tees, denim jackets and sneakers. They’re lightweight and are available single and double variations as nicely, to not point out that they’re gender fluid. “The sartorial sensibilities of the youthful inhabitants has undergone a shift and that is largely impressed by the brand new wave movies, hip-hop music, gender discourses, local weather consciousness and social consciousness,” says Unmesh.

When he showcased his assortment on the music pageant Kappa Cultr in Kochi just lately, Unmesh obtained a bunch of potential consumers curious concerning the cloth and interested by tracing its journey. “Many wished to know if they may drape the mundu in another way. I need to construct a story across the course of and attain out to the neighborhood. It needs to be a form of an training, a sharing of data,” he says. Unmesh even had an indigo plant at his counter to clarify the story of the indigo dye.

You will need to acknowledge, recognise and assist the abundance of ability within the handloom sector, particularly within the age of quick trend, says Unmesh. “That’s the major motive behind this venture,” he provides.

Presently, myKynd has a web-based presence solely. Unmesh is predicated in Bengaluru and he has been busy showcasing the collections as popups throughout India. Every of the collections include a canopy artwork, which function an illustration, portray or {photograph} by impartial artists primarily based on the mundu or the weaving tradition round it. For individuals who need it bespoke, that’s attainable, too.

The mundus have been creatively named after locations in Kerala ending with the phrase ‘kara’, which suggests border. So you’d discover something from Aruvikkara to Elamakkara, Chittattukara, Neendakara and Chottanikkara to say a couple of.  

“The mundu is a part of the Malayali (south Indian) id. By contemporising it, the intention is to develop its scope and take it to a wider collection of wearers, who perceive its roots and its prospects,” says Unmesh. 

Out there on mykynd.in