“My designs are a way of expressing myself” Amrit Kaur is a promising fashion designer who won Gulf Times’ and Istituto di Moda Burgo Qatar’s ‘Design Your Dream Career’ competition

My designs are a way of expressing myself and my culture. I use fabrics as canvas. I really enjoy expressing my art or thoughts on fabrics.These are the words of Amrit Kaur, a young promising Doha-based Indian fashion designer, who won ‘Design Your Dream Career’ competition organised by Gulf Times, Community in collaboration with Istituto di Moda Burgo Qatar. The results for the fashion design competition were announced yesterday.The first runner of the competition is Chandrika Conjeepuray Palaniraj. The second runner up is Judith Camacho.Talking to Community, Kaur, who holds a fashion design degree from Istituto Marangoni in Paris, said: “I love fashion so much that I will work for months on it. I would work for 24 hours even without eating, just standing and stitching on mannequin. Sometimes, I would think why am I doing this but when the designs go on models’ runway, I get the feeling that I work for this. That makes me realise that this whole thing is worth it, just to see my art pieces in movement. I enjoy fashion more as an artwork.”About the designs that won her the competition, the designer, who graduated from the 7th top university in the world with reputable alumni such as Dolce, Gabbana, Moschino, Rahul Mishra & Manish Arora, said: “I have designed two unisex sports T-shirts. The designs are made keeping both men and women in mind while considering their comfort in sportswear. Both designs take the two main colours from the mood board with elements of Qatar’s contemporary architecture.“My first design includes a fusion of the future along with the traditional touch of the Islamic print. The futuristic element is seen through sleeves which are inspired by the petals of the desert rose represented by the National Museum of Qatar. My second design holds a surface manipulation of a patchwork of rippled fabric in different segments. I have made this manipulation by hand which I would be happy to show in person. The fabric portrays a ripple effect due to high tensity knotting which when released, leaves a permanent fluid illusion on the fabric. This fluidity is also found in the abaya and dress in the mood board.”Kaur, who has been working to get established in Qatar, further said: “I started my own brand, Amrit Kaur Paris, in my second year of college and went on to present it during Paris Fashion Week three times. My first collection was called Patakhas in Paris [smiles]. The idea was my being a multi-cultural person. I am originally from Punjab in India, born in Singapore, moved to Qatar and then went to Paris and now back in Qatar. The collection was the fusion of all these. “I started designing when I was studying at high school in Doha. I returned to Qatar in 2016 and since then I have been working with different companies as a designer. Now I have the idea what people in Qatar want in fashion and who my target people are. Recently I released few more collection on the occasion of my birthday in August.When asked what prospects she sees for herself as a fashion designer in Qatar, Kaur said: “I have seen fashion of different cultures. Qatar has a luxury factor to it. People seem to buy whatever clicks with them. I think that is what resonates with my potential customers. Further, there are people who come from different cultures and live in Qatar.”Kaur sees Qatar as a country that offers immense opportunities to nourish creative individuals. “One thing that I learnt from Qatar as a fashion designer is how to communicate with clients. Here you learn to communicate with the class and understand the perspective of the customers. When I see how Qatar supports creative things that happen here, I think it is on the right track.”