MODA VESTIRE - India’s textile heritage and ‘darzi’ tradition made SUSTAINABLE
I am proud to raise the flag of Indian couture in this lovely island of Bahrain with my bespoke label,
MODA VESTIRE. Co-incidentally, MODA VESTIRE was launched on August 15 too, in 2018, and my vision was to create luxury clothing that will harness Indian textile and fashion values. Growing up, I have seen my mother and aunts carefully put together their wardrobe essentials, starting from the fabric – silks of Benares, Lucknow’s famed chikankari, Kashmiri Himroo – and then working with the family darzi to transform them into beautiful clothing. When I entered the world of couture, I realized that this approach was what most people called designer wear and it produced unique, one-of-a-kind garments that are timeless and can be passed down the generations.
But the world of luxury and fashion too has changed in the past decade. We still want beautiful things that speak to us of beauty but we are keenly aware of the intangible price we pay for them. In fact, I would say that India, with its amazing traditions of hand-woven textiles and the instinct of Indian neighborhood women and men to rely on the neighborhood tailor for their core fashion needs, teaches the world
many things about how to make sustainability an everyday habit.
There is, of course, a growing “readymade” market in India for everyday wear. But old habits are difficult to completely let go – if one finds a beautiful swatch of fabric in the bazaar, every Indian has access to a favourite tailor who will run up a lovely garment for her/him. This is unimaginable in the West, where ‘bespoke’ is limited to men’s suits on Savile Row!
In the past decade, there has been a rise in the knowledge and awareness of the origin of textiles and fashion – when I curate my Collections for VESTIRE, clients want to know the provenance of the fabric and the specific design philosophy that I use in styling a garment. As one of the few Indian women involved in the luxury clothing market with an independent label, I am so happy to represent my country’s design and fashion philosophy and textile history to my discerning clients. Indian fashion continues to be a sustainable story.