Guwahati: Yana Ngoba, one of the first tribal jewellery designers from the region and the founder of designer label Yana in Style, presented her exclusive designs at the coveted London Fashion Week on Saturday. As a part of the London Fashion Week’s off-schedule shows ‘Fashions Finest’, Yana showcased her collection at The Grand Connaught Rooms in London.

Yana Ngoba along with renowned weaver Nabam Aka, both hailing from Itanagar, showcased contemporary tribal jewellery and costumes at the event.  The collection at Fashions Finest- London Fashion Week brings in life loin loom, one of the oldest looms in the world.  This fabric is hand-woven by the weavers of the Itanagar district in Arunachal Pradesh. A heritage fabric, its making has been passed down from generation to generation of weavers. The designers jointly worked in the North-Eastern states to uplift traditional weavers and introduce new and safe weaving looms. The colored fabrics have been dyed using the traditional method of indigo dyeing, and also with other vegetable colors.

The apparels consisted of motifs like zinjab, looch, bumph, madoli, juhah, hangbia are all inspired by traditional ornaments of Arunachal Pradesh whereas the accessories and ornaments were made of bronze, silver, old Indian coins, bamboo canes. Other pieces in the collection were inspired by “gale” which takes almost 100- 150 man hours to complete.

About her collection showcased at the London Fashion Week, Yana says, “This is my first show in London and I am so overwhelmed with the response. Every piece of jewelry, every fabric that we showcased in our runway show, has a story and emotion behind it. It takes hours of efforts and emotions for our weavers and jewelry designers to make a single piece. I am so glad that people here in London are connoisseurs of good artmanship and acknowledge the efforts behind it.”

“I am overwhelmed with the support and appreciation we are getting after the event. Our tradition and fabric are exotic. Especially our silk like Muga and Eri are of world class. All the designers and buyers liked the quality and we look forward to promote our traditional fabric and artmanship to the international level”, says Nabam Aka.