Fashion beyond west: India
- Larissa Bernardo
- Jul 15, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 22, 2019
Ok, I need to tell you something: Fashion doesn't exist only in western countries. Probably you knew that right? SO WHY DOES NO ONE TALK ABOUT FASHION IN EASTERN COUNTRIES? Ugh.
The world has so many different cultures so why are we only praising the western ones [by western I mean Europe and the United States]? We need to open our minds to other things we're not used to so we can have a bigger repertoire of everything -music, arts, fashion, politics, history. To start the conversation, I decided to feature two awesome Indian fashion designers. Why Indian? Ok, here we go. India is the second biggest country in population and the seventh biggest in territory. Tthere are many different languages, religions and cultures within India what allows a huge amount of creativity that should be noted. Indian music, Bollywood, fashion and art is so rich and doesn't receive enough credit. This is why I'm here and this is why I will talk about two women that broke boundaries and became two of the most successful fashion designers in India.
Ritu Kumar
The pioneer of fashion in India, Ritu Kumar was born in 1944 and came from a poor family background. She got a scholarship to study in United States and when she came back to India decided to get into the fashion industry. She started her fashion business in the 60's in Kolkata with a modest set up of four hand-block printers and two small tables. At the beginning, Ritu worked with bridal wear and evening clothes but eventually started working with casual wear and her clothes started to be recognised all over the world, including Paris, London and New York.
She won several awards such as India's 'Padmi Shri Award' and 'Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award’ and France's 'Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres' for her contributions to fashion and textiles. Kumar brings ancient Indian patterns and cuts in a modern way adapted to newer generations and her designs are absolutely fabulous.
It's definitely worth it having a look at Kumar's brand's Instagram and to keep it in mind because this is the brand that basically started the Indian fashion industry.
Payal Singhal
She already knew fashion was her calling at 15 when she participated in a contest for Shoppers’ Stop and won the ‘Designer of the Year’ award. Payal Singhal is the daughter of award-winning mass garment manufacturer and exporter Dinesh Singhal, and granddaughter of renowned Indian artist J.P. Singhal. Payal was early exposed to both the creative and business sides of fashion whats was essential for her to become this revolutionary businesswoman.
Backed up by a design degree and a fashion course from The Parsons School of Design, she opened her first stores in Mumbai at the age of 22, and went on to expand internationally, starting with the US. Singhal's label has been going for 17 years and is going strong with a long list of young clients. She has evolved over the last decade and a half as an exemplary designer and has developed a signature that resides firmly in the contemporary Indian wear space. Her collections are a refreshing take on Indian wear but with a very new age design. She's Bollywood actresses' favourite because of her edgy and funky designs. If you want to understand how the new way of doing fashion is being done, you should follow Singhal on Instagram. Badass woman. Love her.
The list of Indian fashion designers goes on and on and I should give you a piece of advice: Google them. It's totally worth it. अलविदा
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