PASS IT ON
A slow fashion label’s sexy take on hand-me-downs.
AS A YOUNG GIRL GROWING UP IN THE TOWN of Jalandhar in India, Kudrat Makkar would drape herself in her mother’s handmade saris and shawls.
“My love of fabric and fashion started when I was raiding mum’s wardrobe,” she laughs. “Because I come from a very small city there was really no contemporary fashion at all, but mum had a lot of heirloom pieces and that’s how I learned about quality and craftsmanship.”
As she grew a little older, Makkar would accompany her mother to visit the artisans who made those garments. “Mum would go to all these small embroiderers and craftspeople who worked by hand and she would explain how everything was done,” says Makkar. “In those days you had to buy the fabric, use your imagination and then let the craftspeople work their magic.”
From those early studio visits with her mother, Makkar’s own imagination was sparked and she vowed that one day she would work in fashion. Three decades later the result is Mastani, a label based in Melbourne with an atelier in India and a design team in Milan. The brand’s name comes from that of an Indian princess who was a symbol of both strength and femininity, two values Makkar aspires to embody in her designs that fuse Indian skills spanning centuries with modern cuts and silhouettes. Traditional hand-looming techniques and intricate embellishment and beading are the hallmarks of the label that aims to preserve and revitalise Indian crafts while educating its wearers about the culture of the hands that shaped their garments.
After two years of boarding school in the Himalayas, where Makkar’s father sent her to instil a sense of independence and strength, she moved to Australia, where she completed an architecture degree at the University of Melbourne. “I always wanted to do something in fashion but coming from an Indian family they really wanted me to do a degree and I thought architecture was the closest thing while still staying in the design field,” she says.
When she graduated, an opportunity arose to run an education business, which Makkar did for five years before founding Mastani. “Running a business helped me build my business skills, and studying architecture enabled me to understand craftsmanship and construction with the kind of experience you just can’t get in fashion school,” she says.
She decided to bring her creative and commercial nous together with Mastani two years ago after she went home to India to see her family. She visited several remote villages
meeting artisans whose traditional techniques spanned generations. “We were visiting a few villages because my father does a lot of charity work in India and I suddenly realised I could do something that could make a difference,” says Makkar. “I’d always appreciated the beauty of hand-looming and embroidery through my upbringing, so I thought I could do something to help sustain their skills and also, in some small way, to give back.”
Today, Mastani’s atelier is located in Bengaluru in the Indian state of Karnataka and consists of a small team of 20. Artisans are provided with above-average working conditions and pay and guaranteed minimum orders to foster the preservation of their expertise.
“I commit for, say, the next five years, to an order of a certain amount every month so they don’t have to worry about going out and finding other work,” says Makkar. “A lot of these traditional techniques are dying because there is not enough regular work so people have to stop and become labourers or do odd jobs instead.” Textile waste at the atelier is minimised, in line with Mastani’s focus on sustainability. Fabric scraps are kept for finishing and used on trims on garment bags and some styles, and samples and garments that do not pass quality control are either upcycled by the atelier or donated within the local community.
“We pride ourselves on not letting anything go to waste,” says Makkar.
Mastani’s new spring/summer collection also scores high on desirability. Easy inky tunic tops, wrap jackets with matching silky trousers, oversized kimono coats and exquisitely embellished eveningwear are among the pieces in the range designed to be worn this season, and for seasons to come, in line with the original pieces beloved by her mother.
“I want to create heirloom pieces that 10 or 20 years down the line people will still want to wear,” she says.
“Her designs fuse Indian skills SPANNING CENTURIES with modern cuts and silhouettes”