An ode to the feminine..........24-12-1995

Shelly Jyoti, fashion designer from NIFT, New Delhi, will be showing her huge oils for the first time at the shrishti Gallery in Hotel Welcomegroup, starting from December 25 and going on till January 3, A student of English Literature, each of Shelly's canvases is complemented by a small poem that she has written, that leads to the meaning of that canvas. Her theme is the empowerment of women and the female form is at the centre of her works.

Shelly is also trained in the Madhubani style of folk painting, some of which she has used to express her contemporary ideas. Shelly will be showing about 15 Oils and around 15 Madhubani works. Shelly is influenced by the paintings of Roerich, her own mother's paintings and her guru, late Bimal Das Gupta from the Delhi College of Art, to whom she has dedicated this exhibition.

Designer paints the new womendian Express....Jan 13 - 2000

So what happens when a garment-designer decides to try a hand at her inborn passion: You get paintings n'expression on women of the new millennium. Meet Vadodara's very own Shelly Jyoti, whose exhibition-cum-sale of oil paintings is currently on at the Shrishti Art Gallery at Hotel Welcome Group in the city.

The Exhibition, according to Jyoti, is her journey of self-discovery in various fields of art she's undertaken in the last two decades. Her early influences have been Roerich, her own mother's paintings and her guru late Bimal das Gupta to whom she has dedicated this series of paintings.

Her 36 paintings signify the dawn of the new millennium which sees a shift in 'status'. "The time has arrived when woman has stepped in to impart her life's rhythm to the world which belongs to her. Therefore, consciously I have chosen Woman as focal point in my paintings. Perhaps, because I see in the changings mosaic of life and lifestyles woman arising to higher planes of conciousness, knowledge, awareness, and enlightenment," she explains.

Be Natural, Wear Natural.........Baroda Times....friday November 8,2002

City-based designer Shelly Jyoti feels that khadi is a designer's delight. "Khadi is a wonderful fabric. One can do a lot with it. To give it an exclusive look, I have embellished khadi garments with Swarovski crystals," says Jyoti, who feels that Khadi looks fabulous both in Indian and Western wear. "You can make ehic, drawstring trhousers with Khadi or make traditional chaniya choli with antique zardost, It gives you plenty of scope," she adds.

Fashion mantra, it has to be Indian all the way.......

Hear what Shelly Jyoti, a city-based designer, from NIFt, Delhi has to say about Khadi. "Of course, Khadi can be a fashion statement. I would love to work on Khadi as a fabric wit block prints and 'crewal' work as embellishment to create a pret-a-porter collection for casual wear."
Jyoti has other suggestions for fusion of khadi too. For instance, you could try a western styled skirt with straight cuts topped off with a short blouse or a khadi kurta on your denims but with minimal jewellery - the look just spells 'trendy' and 'hep'. "Actually, the possibilities are tremendous with this fabric,

Donning the Designer drapes.........Baroda Times....wednesday, December 11,2002

    A quick update on what's trendy and 'out of the ordinary' this wedding season
Fress from another successful season in Delhi, Shelly Jyoti, NIFT graduate, fashion consultant and artist was eager to share her views on the growing trend of supra-formal dressing.

Getting ready for weddings is a part of the social saga, involving a royal extragagence that manifests itself into the various occasions that accompany wedding. According to her, a certain level of formality in apparel separates the bride from the guests at the wedding. This can be achieved by going for fabrics like silk, net brocades and Chinese work. She gives thumbs up to the traditional chaniya-choli but gives it her signature touch by giving the chaniya a parallel fall, so it doesn't look huge and is more like a straight skirt. Her experience with draping the Delhi dulhans can be seen as she recommends international colours like saffron, brinjal, magents, pink and other striking combinations on the bride.

Dress code for the rains ! aroda Times....monday....June 18, 2001

Agrees NIFT-graduate designer, Shelly Jyoti, who deeps up with the trends in New Delhi, "The trends, which are really in, in metros, find good takers here too."

"Apart from light embroidery, people also have a taste for tonal embroidery. Like work done on white floth with white and metallic embroidery," says Shelly Jyoti.

Straight Question and Answers

Q. How do you, as a professional designer perceive the India Fashion Week held in New Delhi ?
A. It was bound to come, All over the world, the graph of the fashion industry has mvoed from haute couture to pret line. as the Indian fashion industry is less than two decades old, Indian fashion designers have been virtually working individuallym But no profession can survive in isolation and Fashion Week has allowed the best designers of the country to come together and synergise their experience and knowledge for better commerce.

Q. Do you think it would change the look of the fashion industry ?
A. Pret line is taken from 'pret-a-porter' which means ready to wear off=the-shelf designer wear. The pret line would bring transformation in the marketing strategies of each designer and would allow him or her to be accessible to various cities in terms of finding retail outlets. This would change the quality of life, dressing habits and their lifestyle. The market audience is masses and the focus is on affordable prices. The target consumer should feel, 'these are my clothes."

Q. Do you feel designers from smaller cities have a chance to participate in such shows in the future ?
A. Professional designers have to be technically sound to be able to deliver good products. For that you have to be from an institute which is recognised in the national and international market. Once you have acquired the technical know how which create professional ethics/approach amongst students, then there is no stop to talent.

The evolution of women Baroda Times....tuesday....Jan 4, 2003

An amalgamation of two art forms, that of painting and poetry writing can be viewed at the Shristi Art Gallery. Welcome Vadodara. Professionally Shelly Jyoti is an accomplished garment designer, having qualified from the prestigious NIFT, Delhi. Her passion however, Is the paint. The larger than life paintings have a common theme-women, and the message is loud and clear, you can do it.
With women as a focal point, she has ambitiously undertaken to poetray 'The evolution of woman' on canvass. "Ayn Rand's female characters have always inspired me and I strongly believe that the time for a shift in the status of women has arrived. Women have already conquered many frontiers but there are many more among us who need to awaken, " She says. A set of live paintings tell a story. Through the story begins in the past, the women are contemporary. Starting with the 'Meditating Woman', Shelly uses various hues of blue graduating to white to depict her throught processes. The grey at the top stands for the shakles that bind a woman and the ideas that have been ingrained in her for centuries. White has been used to depict her thought processes. The grey at the top stands for the shakles that bind a woman and the ideas that have been ingrained in her for centuries. White has been used to depict positive energy. She has borrowed the concept of positive energy from Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist'.
The next in the series, the 'Ascending Woman', is shown breaking free of these shakles and throwing them down a bridge. She walks on towards a brighter future, emerging as the triumphant 'Jaguar woman', the woman of the new millennium. She stands tall, her posture symbolising the confident strides she is going to take. 'The jaguar, the animal with the longest leap, has lent it's spots to this confident and capable woman," explains Shelly. The lotus stands for purity and dignity and the values that she will carry along with her to the next millennium.
The remarkable thing about Shelly's paintings is that all her women, whatever their circumstance, have hope in their eyes and an optimistic look. They refuse to get bogged down by oppression or illogical traditions shoved down their throats. They have risen above it all, without any bitterness.
Vibrant Rajasthani belies bedecked in jewellery, seem to gaze into a future full of promise. The artist's foray into the world of art has brought out the poet in her. Little verses accompany her works, through which she expresses her love of art.
"Dabbling with colours is perhaps my religion - Painting gives me immense joy," Meticulously executed Madhubani paintings, In colour as well as black and white, are also on display.
Two decades after having studied this art form as a student of fine arts. Shelly decided to take off and has done a splendid job of it. Two of these stand out for their non-traditional subjects. The one titled uttarayan', with colourful kites and the other' haute couture', has brought Shelly the designer, to the fore.
She dedicates her paintings to her guru, the late Bimal Das Gupta.

Shelly Jyoti is exhibiting her paintings at the Shristi Art Gallery, Hotel Welcomgroup, Vadodara Jyoti, trained in Fine Arts and garment designing, has been living in Vadodara for a couple of years. She presents a world of the woman of the new millennium from a designer's point of view. She talks of her women (who are a part of her canvas) as very brave, strong and able to take the stride ahead.
Jyoti excels in the formal rendering of the figure, and is in fact able to bring out quite efficiently the quality of fabric that her heroines wear. She presents her exhibition in three scotions, divided on the lines of the language used : abstract, figurative, and Madhubani-like works. In all three kinds of works she comes out the winner in presenting the language she has chosen. However, the exhibits seems to lose their conceptual attainment to the formal qualities.
The exhibition can also be criticised from many other points of view. Though Jyoti's women appear to be strong and Herculean, they all seem to have a bidden coyness within that unfortunately converts them into coquettes at times. The actual woman of substance then seems to appear rather like the superficial woman of substance of the slogan would of beauty contents.
For a viewer, the heroines do not remain women holding to their sexuality as the right to their bodies and their sense, but rather as women whose sexuality is deciphered by the desires of others. Though no other make or female is shown on the canvases, the viewer is drawn into them unwittingly as a desirous participant.
But however criticism-prone the works may be, Jyoti's efforts are nevertheless considerable.