Interview with Karishma Shahani, advocate and connoisseur of fashion’s colour explosion

For the Fashion Capital readers who may not be familiar with you, please tell us a about yourself.

I am a 23 year old graduate originally from India. I have recently completed the BA(Hons) Fashion Design Technology (Womenswear) course from the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London. This was my second degree, the first being a BA(Hons) in Economics.

What inspired you to pursue a path in fashion?

Just the simple fact of creating new things. Consciously or without realising, clothing plays an important part in defining a persons personality for the onlooker and I’ve always found this aspect really interesting.

 

Growing up, who were some of your role models?

My school principal. my mother. my cousin. my aunt. All amazing women who have influenced me in various stages of my life.

 

What is next on the horizon for you? And where would you like to see yourself ten years from now?

As a design student I was always inclined towards working within the field of art and craft and applying it to contemporary design. I am working on collaborations on such projects with a couple of organisations at the moment. I am currently in the phase of research before working on my next collection. I would like to see myself running my own successful label within 10 years from now.

 

If you weren’t involved in the fashion industry, what would you most likely be doing?

Archaeology.

The fashion industry has received a lot of media backlash for using rail thin models. In your experience, how pervasive do you think this issue is, and what do you think can and should be done about it?

I think it is an issue. We are part of an industry which is looked upon as inspiration and modelled by individuals young and old, hence issues such as appearance and discrimination based on appearance to determine what is ‘perfect’ need to be addressed. This idea of acceptance can be blurred by not having a defined rule set for runway as well as advertisement models, the model should be determined by the garment they are in and not by a prescription of pre-conceived notions. 

 

How would you describe your personal sense of style?

Comfortable, textured, flamboyant and contextual

What are your top 3 style rules?

1) Everything doesn’t need to match
2) Comfort = personal confidence
3) There are no rules