A run(a)way success

A model sporting Shadangule’s creations.

It is two o’clock at night and a deathly silence prevails on the streets of Vidisha, a small town in Madhya Pradesh. The silence is intermittently broken by the barking and howling of dogs lazing in the bylanes, and it grows louder when a ghost-like figure rushes past them. Dressed in a blood red salwar kameez, the girl, 17, is in a tearing hurry. She has a blank expression on her face and she is sweating profusely. But it is difficult to say whether it is because of the hot weather or because of what she is doing—running away from home with nothing but the clothes on her back.

Who would want to leave home, but something so horrible happened that night that I had to,” recalls Vaishali Shadangule, now 37. On that day, 20 years ago, Shadangule showed the courage to venture on a journey of self-discovery and it paid off. Today she is an upcoming fashion designer, whose creations rocked the stage at the New York Fashion Week, one the world’s most coveted fashion events. “I miss the masala chai in the US,” says Shadangule, who shuttles between India and New York, where she is settled now. She is currently working on her upcoming factory-cum-couture outlet in Noida.

Madhya Pradesh is known for its chanderi fabric. Shadangule adores the fabric, wears it often and weaves it with other traditional yarns like khadi, khand, jamdani and Banarasi silk to create contemporary designs, which have become her signature style on the ramp. Chanderi, she says, is not a fabric, but a sentiment for her. “It reminds me of my mother’s aanchal [end of a sari]. Perhaps, that is why I know it so well and it is part of my every line,” says Shadangule.

She showcased two collections at the New York Fashion Week. Last year in September, her collection titled ‘And Quiet Flows The Thread’ was presented during the spring/summer edition. Shadangule used a blend of chanderi and khadi to create jackets, dresses and drapes for the show. In February this year, her collection titled ‘Chaatak (Pied crested cuckoo)’ was showcased during the autumn/winter edition. This time, she used a mix of chanderi with merino wool and khadi. Ashish N. Soni and Sabyasachi Mukherjee were the other two designers from India who presented their collection at the event.

Style statement: models sporting Shadangule’s creations.

Following a successful run at the fashion week, Shadangule is now selling her garments under the label Vaishali S through 15 American designer boutique stores. “Vaishali is a true representative of Indian fashion. Young designers like her participating in the New York Fashion Week puts Indian fashion in a different light globally,” says Sunil Sethi, president of the Fashion Design Council of India, the country’s apex fashion body.

Fashion designer Gautam Gupta, who has done several shows with Shadangule, says her creations have soul. “All her collections have a story. The way she has redefined handmade textures and textiles is amazing,” he says. Besides, her making inroads into the American market has opened up new avenues for other designers, too.

Shadangule is in an envious spot today, but her journey to fame hasn’t been an easy one. “I come from a patriarchal family and my father was so strict that even if I had to walk across the room where he was sitting, I had to gather courage,” says Shadangule, who has dressed Bollywood stars, including Sonam Kapoor and Vidya Balan, and singer Sona Mohapatra.

However, the desire to create her own destiny was so intense that neither fear nor the uncertainty of the future could deter her from taking the bold step. “It was also my ignorance that proved to be a blessing in disguise,” says Shadangule. “We didn’t even have a TV at home. My only exposure to the outside world was my school where I was quite popular. I had a lot of friends because I was an ace student and athlete.”

Little did she know then that one day her friends would be her lifesavers. On the night she walked out of her home, she travelled to Bhopal by train without ticket. “It was when I reached there that reality struck me,” recalls Shadangule.

At 3.30am, it is pitch dark and Vaishali is the only woman on the platform of the Bhopal railway station. Shivering in fear, she decides to wait till the sun comes up. It was, perhaps, the longest wait of her life.

“At around 8, I begged a phone booth owner to let me call a friend, as I had no money. The friend came and reluctantly took me home for two days,” says Shadangule. Then with the help of friends, Shadangule found an accommodation in a women’s hostel and a data-entry job in a real estate firm. “My first salary was Rs 500 and the hostel rent was Rs 700. I took up part-time jobs to cover the rest of the amount.”

Finding a well-paying job was difficult because Shadangule found it hard to communicate with people. “I didn’t have a voice at home. So, forget English, even speaking a complete sentence in Hindi was a task for me,” says Shadangule, who is emerging as the new voice of Indian weavers and artisans.

Walk of fame: Models display Shadangule’s fall/winter collection at the New York Fashion Week, held in February.

However, when it came to giving fashion advice, Shadangule never fell short of words. “Impressed by my advise, a colleague asked me if I had ever thought of doing a course in fashion designing,” says Shadangule. The colleague took her to a fashion institute run by a friend. Shadangule joined the course thinking it was for free. She was asked to leave after three days for not paying the course fee. “But in those three classes, I learnt to draw sketches and realised that fashion is my calling,” says Shadangule, who created a design portfolio for herself, which helped her get a job as faculty member in a fashion institute in Baroda in 1998.

While working in the institute, she got an opportunity to visit Mumbai to attend a seminar. She took her portfolio along with her. Impressed by her designs, one of the participating export houses offered her a job.

Suddenly, life seemed beautiful. Shadangule didn’t have to worry about running out of money or having to spend the night on the streets. Just when she thought it was the end of the struggle for her, life threw another challenge at her and perhaps the toughest one!

It rained that day and the air was filled with fragrance of wet soil. Vaishali was on her way to catch a train when she felt an excruciating pain in her backbone. She sat on the staircase of the railway station. After a few minutes when she tried to get up, she couldn’t move.

“I called some friends, who took me home from the station,” recalls Shadangule. “Next day, I was taken to the hospital on a stretcher. I had developed a severe back problem that left me bedridden for six months.”

Shadangule had to leave her job. When her savings were exhausted, she discontinued her hospital treatment and returned home. “The doctor said that I would never be able to walk again,” she says. “But, I had no option but to get back on my feet. So, I exercised and gained strength. Initially, I crawled like a baby, then slowly I tried to stand up holding on to objects and finally I was able to walk.”

When she had regained enough strength, Shadangule took up a job as fitness instructor in a gym. “I used to carry my portfolio there and give the gym members design advice,” she says. Eventually, she started getting orders. She took a loan of Rs 50,000 and started a boutique called ‘The Gallery’ in Malad, a Mumbai suburb. In just three years, Shadangule opened three stores and had 40 people working for her. She also pursued a course in fashion designing from an institute in Delhi. In 2012, she made her debut at the Lakme Fashion Week. “The course opened a new world of fashion for me,” says Shadangule, who started combing the country in search of local textiles and embroidery techniques.

She often visits the artisans to see them work. “Whenever possible I take my daughter Smriti along,” says Shadangule, who is married to Bollywood director and writer Pradeep Shadangule. “There is so much that we can learn from them. My mission is to give them a global platform. With the whole world looking at India, now is the best time.”

Next up, she wants to start an institute where Indian weaving traditions are taught. “A place where designers and weavers are at the same level and learn each other’s skills,” says Shadangule. “Only then will we be able to save our treasure trove.”