Milan, Friday, February 26th, 2022:
On the heels of her tremendously successful show at Paris Haute Couture Week (PHCW) in 2021, designer Vaishali S. showcased her A/W’22 collection, ‘Srauta’, at Milan Fashion Week this evening. This showcase marked the very first time an Indian woman designer has showcased at the prestigious event. With this showcase, Vaishali S. yet again her country’s heritage coupled with her conceptual design language to an international stage. Vaishali’s Milan Fashion Week show also marks the global launch of Vaishali S.’ prêt-à-porter line and with this launch, the designer continues to position Indian hand weaves at the top of international luxury, through unique global silhouettes.
In addition to the models who walked the ramp for the event, global fashion icon who is also known as the ‘Face of Indian Fashion’, Masoom Minawala, graced the runway as the showstopper for Vaishali S. An ardent admirer of Indian craftsmanship and handlooms, Masoom is the first Indian personality ever, to walk the ramp at Milan Fashion Week to support Vaishali and her ethereal prêt-a-porter collection.
Speaking about showcasing at Milan Fashion Week, designer Vaishali S. said, “showing in Milan takes a designer’s journey to another level of maturity and self-awareness. Not only do you need to be extremely creative, but it is also essential to strike a perfect balance between paying attention to the final customer’s needs and being able to express your creativity through a language that is well understood by international buyers.”
Mr. Alessandro Giuliano, Director and Advisor to Vaishali S., added “it was a special evening for the brand and me. When I met Vaishali two years ago I immediately realised her immense talent and sincerity. Showcasing in Milan, my native city and the world’s fashion Capital was truly very special. 250+ people from media and lots of long-time friends, including the who’s-who of Milan, were treated to this special fashion show with glasses of Prosecco, in a stunning location of our friends, EDRA and Simone Vago, with models from Milan society and make-up from Astra.”
The show took place at Milan’s iconic and historic Palazzo Durini, which was commissioned in 1645 and is one of the greatest examples of seventeenth-century architecture in the city. The breathtaking location is filled with history and features several well-preserved frescos from past centuries. The palace is now the showroom of acclaimed Italian furniture brand, Edra, whose stunning pieces adorn the noteworthy interiors of the palace and acted as the perfect backdrop to Vaishali’s showcase. Simone Vago – nephew of vanguard artist Valentino Vago – and Paola Amerio hosted the show attendees and guided them through this incubator of emotions, thanks to multigenerational experience in crafting the best mansions across the globe with a high-end network of luxury workshops specialised in liveable art. The sprawling space at the palace where the show took place featured four huge rooms and glamorously accommodated the 250+ guests – which included some of Milan’s top journalists and VIPs – that attended the show, bearing COVID protocols and social distancing in mind.
Vaishali’s new collection, named Srauta – a word taken from ancient Vedic texts and meaning ‘sacrifice’ in Sanskrit – is centred around the theme of sacrifice. It represents the flow of energy that connects everything in nature and how it sacrifices itself in one form to come to life into another form in a seamless flow that is the secret of life. A demonstration of this flow is the metamorphosis that a strand of hair or fur from an animal goes through in its journey – the hair becomes part of a thread, which gives life to a fabric, which is finally transformed apparel – to ultimately being a part of a garment in Vaishali’s Srauta collection. The designer has studied this flow of energy carefully to ensure that the flow is as seamless and sustainable as possible, ensuring the message of love is carried forward.
The collection of around 40 garments featured not only embroideries but full-fledged haute couture design and fabrics in a fresh prêt avatar, that shone the spotlight on hand-woven Indian textiles. As with all Vaishali’s collections, the Srauta collection too emphasises excellence in workmanship, with sustainability, zero waste and has circularity at its core. To ensure continued support and positive social impact on craft clusters, Vaishali has employed weaves used in the past in this collection as well.
With the aim of pushing the boundaries of her commitment to sustainability, Vaishali has used blockchain technology for this collection, which will guarantee the technical traceability of garments’ history, thereby ensuring not only that sustainability is the focus throughout all processes, but also guaranteeing that clients can trace the journey of the hair fibres of the goat – in case of Pashmina – to the final garment, with a quick scan of a QR code. The implementation of this technology removes all possibility of faking or altering the journey of the fibre, as each minute detail – down to the area in which the animals grazed – is thoroughly documented through photographs and certificates of authenticity, which are made available to the customer.
Additionally, at each stage of the process, the blockchain technology keeps track of how much material has entered and exited the stage, with the leftovers being utilised in Vaishali’s signature cording, engineered deconstruction and texturing techniques, which allows the designer to expand her creativity and create seemingly improbable silhouettes that are the mainstay of this collection of Autumn-Winter garments.
The continued partnership with VIBRAM has also brought a winter collection of sustainable products. VIBRAM, the Italian world leader in sole manufacturing, has made a serious commitment to sustainability. By cooperating on their project “Component – the innovative sole system by VIBRAM”, the shoes for the collection have been developed with the leftover fabrics of the prêt-à-porter collection on a 96% recycled sole. Furthermore, the easiness of detaching the upper part of the shoe and creating your new one with old clothes really takes circularity to a deeper level. The inception of the partnership was during the Paris Haute Couture Week and has been continuing to flourish.
Employing her unique flair for effortlessly blending traditional weaves and techniques with dramatic silhouettes, Vaishali’s Srauta collection, amongst other fabrics, extensively explores the use of hand-woven Merino wool from Bengal, and Pashmina from Ladhak, both of which will keep the wearer warm in colder seasons and surprising cool in the warmer months.
Known widely as ‘wearable art”, the collection is comprised of jewel tones such as deep aquamarines, ruby reds, shimmering amethysts, pearly whites, jade greens, and slate greys, all of which are very well suited to the Autumn-Winter season. The garments all feature the designer’s researched approach to blends and weaving and a deeply creative process along the seamless journey of Vaishali’s self-expression.
The Vaishali S. brand was born out of designer Vaishali’s deep-seated love for classic Indian weaves and textiles. Working with authentic hand-woven fabric and perennially telling a culturally rich tale about India’s rich textile heritage, the brand has endeavoured to celebrate Indian handloom since its inception in 2001. As a strong believer of the “ESG” stamp, Vaishali S. is dedicated to zero waste and circularity with tangible social impact across several states in the country and redistribution across the whole chain of the ecosystem. Additionally, Vaishali is the winner of many prestigious awards, including the Elle Decor International Design Award (EDIDA) for fabric design (in 2018), the Designer of the Year (International Fame) by India Fashion Awards (in 2021), amongst others.
No stranger to the international stage, Vaishali has previously shown at Paris Haute Couture Week, New York Fashion Week and her collections are stocked at high-end boutiques in both London and Milan.
