Vaishali Shadangule, designer and founder of the label Vaishali S, recipient of the Uma Jain Award for Young Woman Achiever

Vaishali Shadangule, designer and founder of the label Vaishali S, recipient of the Uma Jain Award for Young Woman Achiever

 

Thank you for this honour; I’m particularly happy because this is happening close to Women’s Day and we all know it’s not easy when you come from a humble background. I would like to share my story. I feel it’s not just my story, I think it’s the story of every little girl or woman who comes from a small village or town.

So, December 31st, 1996, I left my house in the middle of the night, around 3 am, without thinking, without planning, without money. Just one pair of clothes, following my little voice. No plans: I never thought I wanted to become something or do something really big. Just that call was there, and I left. I started running towards the station in the middle of the night in a place where I had not been allowed to step out after 6.30 pm; I was not allowed to speak; I was not allowed to express my feelings and I hardly spoke any language.

All the conversations were happening only inside me. I went to the station that day and I jumped on the first train which happened to land in big city of Bhopal. Bhopal was really big for me because I did not have exposure to any city. I was clueless about what to do but determined to finish my education in order to explore the world. I knew that if I finished my graduation, I would be able to do something good. I started with random small jobs; I remember my first was just for Rs 500 and all I wanted was to complete my studies.

I did whatever I could do that time, all random jobs, and I managed to finish my graduation. But it was not that easy. We Indians like to think that if you become an engineer or doctor you have arrived, but I soon realised that that was not my cup of tea. Engineering is not me and I can’t do anything with engineering. While I was working in these offices, I realised that I used to style people without knowing I was heading towards fashion or design. I did not have any exposure of fashion or design or fabric, anything, but I loved it. Meanwhile, I met someone, and she told me I should learn fashion. I asked, what is this fashion? So, she took me to a fashion institute and introduced me to its owner.

I said I wanted to do designing. Of course, he said yes, but I had to leave the place in a few days because I did not have money to complete my course. But that was the turning point; I had stumbled upon fashion, and I realised this is it, I love it, and I want to make it happen. I’m talking about ’96-’97 in Bhopal where fashion was not at all a subject, you know. But again, my little voice, I followed my call and I said, I want to do fashion. Cutting it short, I landed in Mumbai in ’99 and I began working as a fashion designer in an export house. That was the start in Mumbai. But soon I had an accident and I hurt my back very badly and six months later, I was in bed and I lost my job, again back to zero. But I never gave up.

After six months, I got a new job in a gym, as a gym instructor. I felt, oh my God, I was doing fashion, how would I manage gym, but again, that little voice said, let’s do it. So, for my survival, I did that gym instructor job but I used to take my portfolios, my designs to the gym and I used to ask everyone, saying, this is my passion and I really want to do something in fashion. Then I met a bank manager’s wife who loved my work and she suggested that I take a loan. I said, I don’t have any support, anything, who will give me a loan? She said she would help me and she helped me take that Rs 50,000 loan in 2001. With that loan, I opened a very, very small boutique in Malad suburbs, which was just 100 square feet, but that was a good start. And without knowing fashion, not being a trained designer, it was not easy for a 19-year-old girl to run that boutique. But I learned a lot. From that one store, I started one, two, three and the fourth one was a really big one in Juhu where 60 people were working for me and everything was good. I was earning well. But again, that little voice said I wanted to study fashion and people said you are mad.

Everything is going so well; 60 people working with you; you have a huge store; you are doing what you wanted to do. But I felt I was missing something somewhere and I was confused and again I followed my little voice and I enrolled for post-graduation in fashion in Delhi. While I was working full-time in Mumbai, my full-time course was in Delhi. So, I used to travel. I did my studies in Delhi from Monday to Friday, and, of course, handling my business in Mumbai on weekends. I wanted to study but that did not mean my workers should suffer. So, that responsibility was there but again I managed, and I did it. After that, I went for my Master’s in Milan. But it was just a small thing and then, of course, when I started my first boutique, the question was how to go about it. I was not aware of anything, which fabric I should start working with… I remembered that my mother used to wear chanderi and Chanderi is a village very close to my hometown. That was the introduction of hand-woven fabrics for me and that’s how I stumbled upon weavers.

My encounter with the weavers was really amazing; I saw how they tied 10,000 threads on the loom just to prepare the loom. After that, the process of fabric and then how many hours, months and how much time energy they put into that one piece of cloth, and we don’t even realise it. That was a very emotional and inspiring moment and I felt I had found my purpose and that became my mission: to take Indian weaves to a global platform. I did not have exposure, support, or plan; of course these things are not easy. And my background, my language, I was a different person from such a humble background, village or town. One is not that fashionable or that bold, to go around and ask and do things. But again, I managed. After completing my post-graduation in 2011, the call was how to go out with this hand-woven fabric and then I got exposure of Fashion Week.

My little voice said go ahead and do Fashion Week. So, 2011, I managed to do my first show in Lakme Fashion Week with chanderi fabric and of course it was a very unconventional language to present fashion because it was not following any trend or any kind of forecast. I just did what I imagined and, of course, the result was that nobody accepted it and I got all kind of rejections and bad reviews. But I did not give up; people said handloom is not glamorous,it’s not fashionable. Of course, my belief in handlooms was so strong that I could not understand why people could not understand. So, I realised I needed to give these beautiful weaves innovation, design and, of course, quality improvement. I travelled across India, I worked with different weavers in different villages, I lived with them, I learned from them. I started in the village of Chanderi with four families, and now I work across 7-8 different states, with 3000-4000 families.

That brought me a sense of doing something, but something was still missing. I showcased 16-17 collections in India in Lakme Fashion Week, Delhi Fashion Week everywhere, but that satisfaction was still not there because we were still not appreciating and, at that time, I felt we have so much in India so maybe you know we don’t realise what we have, and I decided to go to New York. It was random how I left my house; I packed my bag, and I went to New York. Not having any kind of exposure in New York, I did random shows, random exhibitions while I was a well-known designer in India but that was my way of doing things. Finally, in 2017, I managed my first New York Fashion Week and that was the first global exposure for me, for my business and of course New York has given me business and confidence.

Of course, business was important as so many families were working for me, so I had to do business and support them. But New York was not the only first platform. After that, COVID happened. I was sitting at home, everyone was sitting at home, and I felt like Paris Haute Couture Week is the biggest platform, and again, everyone said it’s impossible. People said, it’s a huge platform and from whole world, only the top 20 brands showcase there, like Chanel, Dior, etc. But, of course, I felt India has everything, skill, craft, design, which is good. We get a lot of support… for all the international brands, we are always behind the scene, and all international brands use our skill, our fabric, our craft, our design.

 

So why can’t we do that? That was a very strong call for me, and I decided what I wanted to do with Indian design, Indian craft, Indian heritage, and I managed to do that at the first go, and that was a big achievement for me in 2021. I think I was able to do all this because I feel so blessed and lucky to have my roots, my Indian roots, my small town roots, where the way of life was always very simple, very easy, very sustainable. The sustainable word is now so fashionable and so famous. That time I was not even aware that it was so important. These practices are so important; my mother used to shout and say, don’t waste things, don’t throw water in the kitchen, or try to reuse things, or try to redesign things. There is one example I always give. My mother, when a saree was new, she would wear it outside. When the saree was a little bit torn, she would wear it at home. Or next, maybe I would see a frock made out of that saree, or a curtain on the window, or tablecloth, and last could be the cleaning cloth.

So that way, a very simple way, I learned sustainability. And, of course, the second lesson was always nature. We used to have aadha aangan, aadha ghar, which is half garden and half house. That was so important for us. We always treated nature as our extended body. My mother used to say, you always breathe from nature, you exchange your breath from nature; then how can you treat nature badly? It’s your extended body. That’s how I learned to treat nature as part of my body. And simple things like you have to respect people, and do good for all humans and nature. These were lessons I learned from my roots and I have followed these rules unknowingly with my brand which was, I think, a really, really important thing. And, because of all these things, I managed to become the only woman designer from India to showcase in Paris Haute Couture week, Milan Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week. That was the dream to take to the global stage.

Recently, I launched my home decor collection; the label is 100% sustainable and it came from the pain of throwing all the leftovers of my hand-woven fabric. One day, I just started rolling them in buttons, cords, different textures, and created a panel. And, of course, I got an award for that panel, and I realised, oh my God, something can be done with these leftovers and launched the home decor line. There is one thing I have learned: You will have all kinds of situations in your life; you choose an easy path and live a safe life, or you listen to that call and have the courage to follow your voice. Believe me, that voice has so much power and that voice knows better than you and that voice can open all impossible doors for you.

 

ROTARIANS ASK

 

You have mostly designed for women; is there anything available for men?

I always say menswear is simple, but it’s still not easy. So, I’m preparing for that. I need a lot of preparation to launch my menswear, but it will be soon.

What about the aspiring designers in India – what are your thoughts on helping them?

If you decide to do something, no one can stop you. I have suggestions for them: we have so much in India but we always look outside. My request is to please look inside because India is the most fashionable country. We have so many skills, we have so many beautiful weaves. We used to have 400 different weaves, but now we have only 160 weaves, which is still incredible. 160 different weaves. We have everything in India, even design, if you see fashion history, top to bottom is design. Forget about only female-male.

If you notice from head to toe, even male used to be so fashionable. So, I always say we are the most fashionable country. If you travel across India, every 25 kilometres, you will see different colours, different fabric, different motifs, different designs; there is so much to take in. And for young designers, I think this is the best thing we have. If they can take it forward with this heritage, I think no one can stop them. And I think this is the time for India. If they talk about India, I don’t think anyone can stop them.

 

Vaishali, will you tell us a little more about what kind of clothes you do?

Sure. My mission is taking Indian weaves to the global platform and create one language where people can wear it in India, Europe, US, or any country. So, I always say that what I create is very unconventional. Of course I have saris, and, I have Indian wear also, but I just follow nature and nature has just one language. If you travel anywhere, nature is one. You can’t say nature is different in Europe and different in India. So, I’m trying to create one language. All the silhouettes are inspired by Indian silhouettes like saree, dhoti, etc., but they are still modern. I have, I would say, modernised the Indian silhouette using Indian traditional textile, and I’m happy the world is wearing it. I was so happy when a Hollywood actress recently wore my short saree dress which was, for her, modern, but for me it was a saree. And that was the first time any Hollywood star wore Indian textile, hand-woven textile, on the red carpet. So, it’s one language I’m trying to create where the whole world can wear Indian textiles through that language.

 

You’ve been working with 4,000 family weavers.

Could you tell us more about this? Because at Rotary, we are deeply involved in kind-of impacting the lives of the underprivileged. When I started with 4 families, they were not ready to work with me at first, because they were so scared. They were scared because they felt like somebody was coming from outside and taking something from them. But I saw they were struggling for their basic livelihood. So, I’m not saying I managed to do something very extraordinary, but I still felt I needed to educate young weavers and tell them not to leave this tradition because if you leave this tradition, we will lose this art. And it was not an easy job to convince them to learn because for them, it was not a very respectful job. So, of course, we try to give them more money, try to convince them and this is a precious thing you are doing. And it was really tough, but now more and more young weavers are coming. Still, the condition of weavers honestly is not very good because so many things are happening around. I don’t want to go into detail, but weavers are still struggling for their basic livelihood. So, I think more and more people should come forward and try to do something because I strongly believe, that what we have in India, especially the textile, is really precious. No other country has any different kind of breathable fabric, organic fabric. Everyone is talking about slow fashion, everyone is talking about sustainability. And I think this is the best thing if we think about the handmade fabric. So, we can change if we can go back to our roots. We understand our roots like how we used to be and how important it is to make things by hand. And why that life was so sustainable. So, I feel this is very precious and we are losing it. I think our weavers should get more money, more respect, more facilities, just like how people doing other jobs get all kinds of facilities.