South Asian Designers at Vancouver Fashion Week

Twice a year Vancouver Fashion Week sets up shop ‘under the tents’ and introduces fashion lovers in the city to new trends, and designers from around the world. This season (F/W 15), they also showcased two South Asian designers. The first were local husband & wife team Sunny and Reshu Sethia from Sunny’s Bridal, and the second was Shravan Kumar Designs from India. 

SABN VFW
Images by Aziz Dhamani

We got to check out both shows and experience the glitz and glamour from the front row, so we thought we’d share a few glimpses from the runway and our thoughts about each designers show.

Sunny’s Bridal
The Sunny’s design team showed a series of pieces that would be be perfect for summer weddings and events with a big focus on bling and crystal work. There was a series of pieces in white and gold and nude shades with thread work and crystal beading that would be perfect for an outdoor event. Of course, some of us were smitten with the pops of neon pink! That shade of pink can be quite overpowering, but it’s also a sure fire way to get noticed.

A fun twist to the Sunny’s show was all the local celebrities who walked the ramp. There was veteran radio and TV personality Shushma Dutt, radio jockey Nira Arora, and everybody’s favourite celebrity chef, Vikram Vij. It was lovely to see so many prominent South Asians from the community support a local brand.

Shravan Kumar
This season Shravan Kumar’s show was titled Tribes of India and highlighted craftsmanship and embroidery techniques that are dying out in India. He travelled around Gujrat meeting with fabric weavers, embroiderers, and other craftsman to develop a collection that brought attention to all these tribes and their generations old skill set.

When we chatted with Shravan before the show he made the point that this is truly Indian Couture, because for a piece to be deemed couture each piece must be made by hand. That is the case with many of Shravan’s pieces – from the fabric being made on hand looms, to each individual mirror being placed on by hand, these pieces are couture.

The collection itself was stunning. Many of the pieces had a very ‘banjara’ (gypsy) vibe and had the trademark thread and mirror work of those tribes. We felt like this collection would be the perfect base for Indo-Fusion looks. You could easily pair one of the choli’s with jeans, or the lehenga skirts with a slick white button up shirt.

Who are some of your favorite fashion designers?

4 thoughts on “South Asian Designers at Vancouver Fashion Week

  1. Vera Wang, because she designs both for the rich and what you might call “the common person”. There is a large department store in the United States that features some of her designs (made especially for them), and I have a pair of shoes she inspired that I love.

  2. These dresses are so beautiful. They would look good in any society. I like the old style of a garment flaring from under the bust. Of course, these models are slim. But the so-called Empress Line flatters the fuller figure too.

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