- Where silk threads play with colour
Her brand, Evable, literally translates to “beyond beautiful”, which, after having a look at her colourful, dazzling pieces, we think is quite fitting.
Evleena lived most of her life in Sri Lanka, and was always aspiring to become a fashion designer. Having done her schooling from Sri Lanka and being exposed to different cultures all throughout her teenage days, she got bitten by the fashion bug at a pretty early age and thereby developed a knack for fashion designing. After she graduated school, she was accepted into the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Delhi, India, where she was quick to jump on a plane and start her journey into achieving her life's dream while constructing her design sense and style.
Right after she graduated from university, she worked with export houses which, she told us, greatly helped her understand the industry and its intricacies.
She embarked on her professional journey when she decided to quit her full time job and registered her company Kyros Apparels (Pvt.) Ltd., in India, which eventually became an established brand.
Later, she felt the need to rebrand the name, and realised that there is no better place to draw inspiration from other than herself; “I wanted the brand name to have similar phonetics, initials or meaning as my name and which is how the brand ‘Evable’ was born.”
The boutique store is located at Shahpur Jat, Delhi and they do custom-made clothing. Their specialty is hand embroidery and they cater Indian ethnic wear for women and men.
Evleena recently held a pop up at Thambili Island, located down Ward Place, where she showcased some of her more casual evening wear as well as glamorous evening wear and bridal outfits. Thambili Island is a quaint boutique, and as we walked in, all we could see were dazzling sequins, beads and gemstones adorning all the clothing scattered around the store.
Gesturing to a lady that was enthusiastically trying on a pale pink saree done by Evable, Evleena told us, “We believe in creating timeless pieces without compromising on the quality. We want to build trust with our customers and help them witness the journey of their creation. A design that feels like it was always made for you.” The customer, over hearing our conversation, piped in that she did indeed, feel like the saree she had draped on was made just for her.
Beauty often lies around us, disguised in a form that has to be realised by someone who adores it and appreciates it. Evable don’t just make wonderful clothing but they stitch your dreams into reality and bring the beauty into life. At Evable, Evleena told us, they believe their customers are the real designers of their own dream outfits and they only help them curate it, thus maintaining the essence of their brand.
Just like her journey, Evleena wishes to create something wonderful for every woman, irrespective of shape and size. Their story is seen in her designs, in their way of working and in what the brand stands for.
What we found the most fascinating about Evable was a throwaway comment that Evleena made about dying fabric and beads. We asked her to elaborate, to which she told us that each of her pieces start off as a simple white silk fabric, and only upon a specific colour request by her customers, does she dye the fabric. That is how they are able to come up with such unique colours that are not usually found on the market. After the colour is decided, she decides on a colour scheme for the embroidery, beadwork and sequins, which again, she dyes from white to suit the theme of the outfit.
“This is how our outfits are so colour coordinated and we want to make sure our customers have a piece that is unique to just them,” Evleena told us.
They do use chemical dye on the fabrics and beads but she informed us that they are still a sustainable brand as they follow slow fashion. “It is one of a kind. It’s all ethical and we work with all natural fabrics,” she commented.
When talking about challenges, she easily responds that the biggest one is how time consuming it is; “Because it’s customised it takes more hours. The beads and sequins are all sewn in by hand and even the embroidery is hand done, so it takes ages. Before that, we have a back and forth with our customer, and just the deciding process takes a long time.” She also mentioned that the motifs that they embroider onto the pieces are all her own designs, and sometimes the customers don’t just take used designs, again ensuring the customer a completely custom piece.
In the future, Evleena told us she plans to build a strong clientele in major Indian metro cities as well as building ourselves as an established supplier of handwork to other countries. She even hopes to open up her own store in Sri Lanka, but in the meantime, Sri Lankans can contact her via Instagram and she will walk you through the design process and the final pieces will be shipped down.
Instagram: @evablebyevleena