Vaishali S At Twenty-Five Years: From Chanderi Workshops To International Runways

When Vaishali S marked her twenty-fifth year in the industry with a show at the steps of Mumbai’s Asiatic Library, the moment felt significant for reasons far deeper than the setting. It represented the steady, uncompromising journey of a designer who built her global presence through Indian handweaving, long before the industry treated textile driven couture with seriousness. “It has been twenty five years of real challenges and real joys,” she says. “I have always been on an unconventional path, an outlier, which automatically brings challenges.”

Her relationship with craft began early. As a child, she accompanied her mother to a Chanderi weaver’s home and watched the loom being prepared. “I was struck by how the weaver was tying some 10,000 threads almost without looking. The weaving sounded like a meditative concert,” she recalls. She did not see this as fashion then. That connection formed later when she walked into a fashion institute in Bhopal after leaving home. “That is when I decided I would make Chanderi and other handwoven fabrics of India part of global fashion.”

The first decade of her career was shaped by resourcefulness and instinct. Before she had access to yardage, she worked with sarees because they were the only handwoven textiles she could find. Cutting them sparked criticism, but it also grew into the technique that defines her silhouettes today. “It was in order not to throw away any small piece of this sacred garment that I started hand rolling the leftovers,” she says. Those cords eventually became her signature, used to build form and structure without heavy embellishment.

Her path rarely aligned with the mainstream fashion system. She avoided social circuits, presented herself in a saree after every show and stayed focused on craft during an era when maximal surface work was the dominant language of Indian couture. “These were the village values I was raised with,” she says. “I never looked around or tried to follow anything else.” What seemed unfashionable at the time now reads like a blueprint for the growing movement around slow, ethical and textile centred luxury.

The global shift came in 2021 when the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode invited her to show as a guest on the Paris Haute Couture calendar. She became the first Indian woman designer to present on the official schedule. “Applying for Haute Couture and then deciding to go despite the travel restrictions was a reckless decision,” she says. “It has been monumental for the brand’s longevity.” The Paris showcase changed how the international market viewed her label. Her collections were discussed for their technical innovation and for the way they used fabric as structure rather than decoration.

Her relationship with artisans has grown alongside the brand. Her atelier now supports multiple weaving clusters, with orders that run throughout the year. “I admire them for their sensibility with the loom and the depth of their craft,” she says. “They get on my nerves for not caring about timing and deliveries, but this happens with artists. I am similar in some ways.”

Even with global recognition, she continues to operate with the same principles. Her day still involves draping, sketching textures and reviewing fabrics. “Sincerely, it hasn’t changed much except for the number of karigars I can instruct,” she says. Each collection remains linked to a stage of personal reflection. Once a season is complete, she immediately begins working on the next. “My mind shifts to another layer the moment I let go of the previous one.”

As she enters her twenty-fifth year, she is also launching her first menswear collection, built entirely in Khadi and handwoven textiles. “Men are now starting to appreciate natural organic materials, conscious work and heritage,” she says. “There are strong recalls to traditional attire, conjugated in a modern way.”

Her next goals remain clear. She plans to challenge more conventions within Indian couture, particularly around bridalwear. “My next bet is to push for white garments in bridal couture,” she says. She also wants Indian craft to be positioned more strongly on the global luxury map. “We have slow fashion, bespoke, workmanship, sustainability, innovation. These are the definitions of luxury and couture. We need to market them better and bring design back into garments heavily.”

At the Asiatic Library, as her anniversary show wrapped, the milestone felt less like a dramatic culmination and more like a steady continuation of her mission. Twenty five years in, Vaishali S has built a path that rarely depended on trends or approval. It depended on the loom, on persistence and on her belief that Indian handweaving has a place at the highest level of global couture. That belief continues to shape every chapter that comes next.

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