With a rich history of supporting creatives, has long attracted fashion designers from around the world seeking inspiration, recognition or just a new creative cradle for their . Call it the vestiges of colonialism, or some kind of London calling that magnetises our talent pool, but Indians have numbered many among those emigrés. Here, four of the city's brightest sparks, from the consummate to the emerging, consider the meaning of success — and when, if ever, they felt like they had finally ‘made it’.
Though she was born near , Namita Khade’s Maharashtrian heritage is suffused into her work. Knitwear is the young designer’s focus: in her hands, fibres transform into lis - some dresses, almost fluid in their movements. They’re punctured with cut-outs and fastened with upcycled safety pins or discarded carabiners (a reference to the vividly decorated trucks that she remembers seeing on trips to India).
Sari prints are evoked in their patterns and their drapes are reminiscent of dhotis and salwar kameez. It became apparent to Khade once she started her own brand that working in fashion wasn’t the place for isolated, creative genius. It was about pragmatism, multi-tasking and business nous.
“As a designer or owner of the brand, you have to do a bit of everything,” she says. “I learned quickly that things aren’t how they initially seem. Success is ultimately staying above water in this industry.
” So what are the barriers she has found—for herself and f.