Back to school brings a dash of nostalgia

Chennai’s entrepreneur siblings, Divya and Navya Niranjan, are all set to take style back in time with their collection “Old School’19”. As co-founders of clothing label Blueprint, the duo is giving a fashion upgrade to school uniforms and making them fit for the ramp!

With clean cuts, cropped jackets and detailed sleeves, the collection approaches uniforms with a contemporary outlook by replacing pleats with pintucks, hemlines with scallops and extending the collar into a tie. Made from cooling fabrics like hem, these elegant designs make fine outfits for a day out even on the hottest summer day.

In existence for the past eight years, the clothing line Blueprint has kept the sisters’ love for designing together going despite living hundreds of miles apart. While Divya, who is a stylist for notable south Indian film personalities, lives in Chennai, her sister Navya resides in California’s Santa Clara in the US. Ideating over distance, Navya designed the collection, and her sister took care of procuring the fabrics and bringing the designs to life.

“My sister and I love well-tailored fits and fabrics like cotton, khadi and hem. Through the collection, we wanted to add spunk to the uniforms, while revisiting the school times. The collection also offers exclusivity to the buyers, as there is only one piece of each design,” Divya tells DTNext ahead of the collection’s launch.

As the brain behind the designs, Navya says her love for wearing uniforms to school made her want to reimagine them. “Wearing uniforms to school offered me a sense of belonging and readied me to take on the world. I also particularly liked the way the uniforms fit and held their shape. This inspired me to make clothing that is well structured, while also being fun,” she adds.

The designs, offering statement silhouettes and playfulness with ties and layered skirts, make for a fashionable way to revisit the good ol’ school days!