Vaishali Shadangule is the first women designer from India to showcase at the Haute Couture Paris 2021. Born and brought up in Vidisha (MP), the very center of India and ancient culture and art, she left Vidisha at the age of 17 to pursue engineering studies. After her graduation, she moved to Bombay where she started her first boutique. Eventually she established three more that helped her with the tuition fee for the post-graduation at Pearl Academy followed by Domus Academy in Milano. Her real Education though, she says remains the experiences she has had in Vidisha, its neighboring town Chanderi, and the forests in between.
SP: Hailing from Madhya Pradesh, which is a state rich in Art History, tradition and culture, what is your first memory of the moment that drew you towards the handcraft and the weavers?!
VS: And I would add nature. Indeed, while coming from MP might have been a reason for making my early career a bit harder, nonetheless it is what makes it deep, true and consistent. My first memories in fact are around my mother’s beautiful Chanderi Sarees that she used to wear for everyday working life. When visiting weavers it always struck me their skills and dedication for long hours. I remember their fingers moving like printing machines to knot those 10,000 plus threads every time. And the long days spent playing and running in nature, of which I could really feel the energy that today I am trying to transmit in my garments.
SP: Your designs specifically aim at promoting the Indian Handicraft and the weavers. How have been the responses so far, internationally?
VS: I started my career just to promote these artists. The response is always amazing, especially after clients buy and try their first garment. It is not easy to convey the full value of handweaves till someone tries them on. This is the reason why I decided to study a global language to give them, so that they could first be appreciated on garments that attracted the attention with stunning and innovative silhouettes. Once clients wear these clothes then they call me also for having simpler garments made for them in handweaves.
This is why maybe the response abroad, especially Italy and the USA has been even stronger, where they are more used to my kind of global language. I see it coming very strongly now in India, where people already know about hand weaves, and they are starting to ask for more innovative looks.
SP: What is the significance of the materials you use in your designs?
VS: Materials are the reason I started to create garments, thus being my central focus and passion. Hence, they are my starting point. I create my models in my head, but then the final design happens only through my hands touching the material and draping it around a body, while giving it the flow and the unconventional silhouettes with my ‘cordings’, which I make with the left-over of my fabric. The idea of this proprietary technique came to me exactly for my respect towards the weaves, in an effort to not waste a single thread.
SP: What are the steps you take while designing to maintain the factor of sustainability in your brand? What suggestions do you have for the Fashion Industry?
VS: I design everything by draping, which already accounts for minimal waste. I execute my cording technique by using the leftovers of these fabrics. Then again I use what is still available for accessories and if possible for home interiors. Virtually no thread is wasted.
In the choosing of the yarns and in the making of the garments we use the utmost quality and attention, so that our garments last forever and can mostly be washed even in the washing machine. All garments are quite rich in good quality materials, which allows us to repair them easily or repurpose them in different silhouettes when clients (often) ask us.
My suggestion is to go back to good quality materials that can last longer, and craft them in models that can be matched with different garments, so that clients can wear them over and over without getting bored of them.
SP: What is the thought process you follow before arriving at an idea for execution?
VS: I normally get some connection and excitement from nature, whether it is a mountain, a coral, a mushroom, a tree bark, etc., and I fix it in my mind, maybe with a photo. My mind starts to elaborate it and capture the feeling and energy of the situation, and immediately give form to some silhouettes. As soon as I can, I do a very draft design, and then start draping it. While draping, the hands start adapting it in human lines, but the shape is already well clear in my mind.
SP: You recently participated in Paris Fashion Week 2021 as the first female designer from India, what is your takeaway from this grand experience?
VS: In two weeks, I will take part in this huge experience of the Paris Haute Couture Week, the dream of every designer. I have already learnt a lot about the idea of excellence that runs everywhere in the ecosystem of Haute Couture and my take away is that this is the way in order to give the clients that experience that can make them dream. At the same time the confrontation with such icons and strong personas that are these other designers give a sort of reassurance that you can actually be strongly loyal to your thought process and to your personal journey. At the top of everything, the Haute Couture in Paris is really that stage where you can let your creativity go and express your feelings to a totally different level.
People not only appreciate this expression, but also can finally understand your language and your message in a better way.
SP: Your works draw close inspiration from nature; ranging from its patterns to the fabric you choose. Would you like to elaborate on this specificity of choice?
VS: Nature is the beginning of all my inspiration and creativity. All my textures and my silhouettes come straight from nature and experiences that I have had with her. I could give you the specific time and place where each one of my inspiration has come from. That is why I manage to create the sensations that my clients tell me about.
It is not a choice, rather the source.
SP: Your journey as a Fashion Designer is fascinating and inspiring. It would be enlightening for the young generation to know your envisions of the future of your practice.
VS: Major shifts are happening, and all for the best apparently. I have always vouched for an education that starts from experimenting (with nature) before learning the skills. If you learn the skills first, then remain ‘caged’ into other people’s languages. And this is happening, and young people are more and more getting courage and dedicating to new age education structures that largely allow this freedom.
At the same time the world is getting aware of the responsibilities that fashion has towards climate, social clusters, and I would say happiness of our clients.
Fashion also has to be self-sustainable and basic knowledge of hard skills like accounting and marketing are necessary. Competition is very strong, so multiple experiences and skills are needed. Though for the core of the creative exercise, more freedom or ability to get into it is necessary.
SP: Tell us something about your ongoing projects.
VS: Everything is always ongoing for me. The biggest project now is to give form to this Haute Couture experience and make it an India pride and statement on the global market.
Hopefully this will help to go deeper in two directions that are very dear to me: supporting the various clusters of weavers with better structures, and going upstream in the depth of sustainability. On the other hand, I am also trying to plug in tech in order to enhance the experience of my clients both offline and hybrid.
SP: Any suggestions you would like to give to the young emerging designers and practitioners?
VS: Focus on what is your passion, the one that gives you goosebumps and experiment all you can in that direction. In the meantime, learn your basics. But don’t look at other designers, just follow your personal journey, it is always the most interesting for you, and the one where you can give the most to the world.
Image Courtesy: Vaishali Shadangule
Find more about the Designer and the Brand:
