Raw Mango’s latest collection begins in an unexpected place for a festive wardrobe: on the walls. Titled ‘Bhitti Chitra,’ which translates to wall paintings, the collection draws from the frescoes of Ajanta, Garh Palace in Bundi and Pompeii, tracing a visual conversation across three distinct cultures and centuries that used architecture as a canvas for stories, myths, people and everyday life.
The idea began with Sanjay Garg’s long-standing fascination with the classical age of the subcontinent. “The 1st to 6th centuries of the common era saw the rise of empires that were as devoted to art and culture as they were to trade and commerce. In Italy and in India, we painted our myths, fantasies, aspirations and depictions of our everyday lives across the walls of palaces and caves. Architecture became a site of storytelling. That’s what fascinated me the most,” he says
The references came together through a series of places Garg encountered over time. He had visited the palace of Bundi as a child, only to rediscover it years later when he was invited for a private dinner by the king. “I was fascinated by how beautiful it is,” he says. Soon after, Garg found himself in Rome, while a visit to Ajanta the previous year had already added another layer to his fascination. “What stayed in my mind across all these experiences were the frescoes I saw.”
That idea of storytelling carries directly into ‘Bhitti Chitra’. The collection brings together celestial figures, courtiers, animals, flora, architecture and geometric motifs, borrowing from the imagery found across its three references. From Buddhist deities and Rajasthani courtiers to griffins, mermaids, angels and swans appear across the textiles, while figures from Bundi’s courtly frescoes become characters within Raw Mango’s own compositions. A load-bearing angel, historically depicted supporting temple architecture, now appears holding up the border of a saree.
There is cleverness to that translation. Garg sees architecture and clothing as two forms of lived surroundings, both changing with the people who inhabit them. “The house that you live in is as personal and dynamic as the saree that you wear,” he says. “Both accompany you through the phases of your life. The way you interact with both changes through time.”
That makes the saree an especially interesting canvas for these references. A fresco may occupy a wall, but its imagery was created to be seen repeatedly, lived alongside and passed through generations. On fabric, those same figures gain movement. They travel with the wearer, shift with the drape and become part of everyday life.
The collection also plays with what happens when imagery moves away from its original setting. Garg describes the approach as an “interplay of imagery” that speaks to cultural exchange, bringing together three civilisations that used the same medium to express their own lives and beliefs. The references remain recognisable, while their placement changes. A griffin remains a griffin. A mermaid remains a mermaid. The difference lies in where they appear and how they interact with the rest of the composition.
“A figure that holds up the pillars of a temple is seen holding up the borders of a saree,” Garg explains. Ornate borders and frames from Roman frescoes become all-over embroidered patterns, while scenes such as the depiction of the Buddhist deities Hariti and Kubera have been simplified for weaving while retaining their original meaning. Textiles like Varanasi brocades, silk, velvet, wool and canvas carry the imagery that once belonged to stone and plaster.
The colour palette is where the collection takes its clearest departure from Raw Mango’s previous festive offerings. Instead of reproducing the saturated tones associated with earlier collections, Garg looked to the natural mineral pigments used in ancient frescoes and softened the palette. “You will see familiar hues from our past collections but in hushed tones, transitioning from vibrant to muted,” he says. Bottle green becomes light jade, electric pink shifts towards dusty lychee, while chrome yellow, earthy red, deep mural green, black and midnight blue build the rest of the palette.” The colours give the collection a distinctly aged visual language without making the clothes look historical.
This collection, at its core, is a study of how visual culture travels. Ajanta, Bundi and Pompeii existed in vastly different worlds, yet each used walls as a way to document stories, beliefs, aspirations and daily life. ‘Bhitti Chitra’ brings those worlds into the same frame, then lets them play out across fabric. For a festive wardrobe, it makes for an unusually rich cast of characters.
