Vivienne Westwood’s maiden Indian showcase spotlights khadi, chanderi, pashmina wool and muga silk

Unlike many international designers that use ethnic textiles to fashion Indian silhouettes or designs, Westwood is believed to have designed the brand’s signature styles, using complex tailoring with Indian fabrics in the capsule collection

MUMBAI: With the Dior show nearly two years ago, followed by Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s grand exhibit to mark 25 years of the brand, Mumbai is seemingly inching close to resuscitating its profile as the country’s fashion capital; and British designer Vivienne Westwood’s first-ever showcase at the Gateway of India, on Tuesday, in partnership with the department of textiles, government of Maharashtra, fortifies that claim.

Vivienne Westwood’s maiden Indian showcase spotlights khadi, chanderi, pashmina wool and muga silk

The show will feature a selection of the brand’s spring-summer 2025 looks, and archival pieces. The highlight, however, is a ‘capsule collection’, of around 20 to 25 pieces, created with Indian textiles and fabrics such as khadi, chanderi, muslin, muga silks, pashmina wool and black cotton. “Through our partners at Vivz Fashion School (Pune), the ministry of textiles invited Vivienne Westwood to create a collection using traditional fabrics from India to, both, celebrate and support the artisanal industry,” said the English fashion house’s CEO Carlo D’Amario. “We have, in fact, partnered for decades with local industries and artisans in the UK, as well as Europe and Africa.”

Unlike many international designers that use ethnic textiles to fashion Indian silhouettes or designs, Westwood is believed to have designed the brand’s signature styles, using complex tailoring with Indian fabrics in the capsule collection.

Founded in the 1970s, by Vivienne Westwood (April 8, 1941 – December 29, 2022), the label’s aesthetics drew from the punk rock movement with designs like bondage trousers and ripped shirts sculptured or draped evening wear, tartan patterns, voluminous taffeta gowns, platform heels, and corsets that allow free movement. “When you look at the ‘capsule collection’s pieces, you will be surprised that such beautiful, imaginative silhouettes are made from khadi and other Indian textiles,” said Arti Rai, co-founder of Vivz Fashion School. Rai and her business partner Vivek Pawar introduced the British label to handmade, sustainable textile brands in India.

“These fabrics represent more than a local skillset. They also represent a national spirit and are intrinsically linked to important historical moments,” said D’Amario. “The fact that artisans working together, weaving khadi fabrics were helping to convince Indians to abandon factory-made clothing made by British companies, and in doing so, became an important weapon in the freedom movement, is a wonderful story.”

The khadi for the collection was sourced from the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Mumbai, while the chanderi and a few other textiles were sourced with the help of Aaranya, in Gwalior, a textile label helmed by Priyadarshini Raje Scindia, who belongs to the royal family of Gwalior and is married to BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Aaranya, which works with independent handloom weavers across Madhya Pradesh, commissioned work to 12 weavers for this project. “When the brand’s team visited our weavers in Gwalior and Chanderi, they seemed genuinely invested in chanderi, our work and our story,” said Scindia. “Also, I respect the phenomenal work Vivienne did. It was nice to see women-led brands come together. For me, that connection was more important than any marketing strategy,” she added.

Mushir Ahmed Motamal from Chanderi, a sixth-generation weaver, is one of the 12 craftspeople who created fabrics for the Vivienne Westwood showcase. “I was asked to weave an all-white fabric that is soft yet thicker than the traditional translucent chanderi fabric,” he said. Aaranya supplied him with thicker silk threads, which was used as a weft along with a cotton warp. “It was exciting to work on the project as I learnt how to create a different quality of cloth. I am also happy that chanderi will be one of the highlights of such a big fashion show and the British brand’s collection,” he added.

Scindia hopes that the show will put a spotlight on Madhya Pradesh’s textiles and bring more tourists and handloom enthusiasts to Chanderi, the town which has one of the largest handloom parks in the country. “For me, the nice thing (about the fashion show and the capsule collection) is that an international crowd will now be able to touch and handle these textiles,” she said, underscoring that the textile received the GI tag in 2005.

Rai too believes that this show will elevate the reputation of Indian textiles amongst international designers. “We all know that foreign brands incorporate Indian textiles in their designs, and also outsource work to Indian karigars,” she said. “But this collection will show foreign designers how versatile Indian textiles are, and what’s its true value and essence.”

While we will have to wait to see what comes out of the project, for now all eyes are on the show on April 1. Bollywood actors Kareena Kapoor Khan and Aditya Roy Kapoor, fashion designers Manish Malhotra, Gaurav Gupta, and Ananya Birla, Sudha Reddy and Nikhil Kamath from the business world, are expected to attend the show.