Max Loves

Get inspired by the expert’s life learnings and his advice to make it

 

big in the world of fashion design.

 

 

 

For a young boy belonging to family of doctors, fashion was an unlikely career path for Mumbai-based designer Nachiket Barve. But when you find the path that you know will lead you to your life’s purpose, how can you ignore it?

 As a designer of international repute, Nachiket has always been lauded for flawlessly fusing stunning visual appeal with practicality. It is a principle central to his aesthetic, since he believes that fashion is not meant to simply woo you on the runways, but make you feel beautiful in your everyday life too, regardless of your shape and size. This year, Nachiket was the only Indian among the six womenswear finalists at the prestigious International Woolmark Prize. Here’s what he has to say about fashion that lasts, and finding who you are.

 

What does being a designer mean to you? 
My work is an extension of who I am; it gives me deep satisfaction, joy and fulfillment to design things that have never been done before, or even doing things that have been done and will always be a part of the fashion world, but with my very own spin on them. The thrill is in pushing the boundaries, leaving the fashion landscape a little better than when you found it. 

 

When did you know you want a career in fashion? 
When I was quite young. However, growing up in the 80s and early 90s, fashion was not the most widely understood career. I made up my mind when I was 17... and the journey began.

 

What are your most enduring inspirations? 
Life itself! If we take a step back to just observe life and everything that’s unfolding around us each day, there is no dearth of inspiration. Relationships, the temperament of our emotions... Everything is material. Nature forms a huge part of my inspiration, as do cultures across the world. Travel ignites my imagination and I could be inspired by something really striking or entirely mundane.

 

If you had to condense everything you've seen and learnt in three principles that have helped you become the designer you are, what would they be? 
Love what you do, else it is futile to try and do this job; learn from feedback, you are too close to your own work to be able to see it objectively, and always keep adapting—it is a dynamic and volatile industry, some days you are the pigeon, some days the statue. So always be open to transformation.

 

 What is your advice to designers who are at the start of their journeys? 
Listen to your heart, but listen to feedback from the people you trust as well. Fashion is not all art, it is not about you in isolation. Others have to feel and respond to your product as well.

 

 In an industry as cut-throat as fashion, how does one maintain one's sanity and stick to a moral compass? 
Family, a healthy sense of detachment, and the realisation that it is only clothes, at the end of it all. People will spill wine over them, they will fray and get discarded one day, so breathe!

 

 How does one differentiate between an actual flair for design and "liking" fashion? 
To be honest, today everything is so subjective; any hobbyist calls himself a designer. Time differentiates the wheat from the chaff, and originality speaks for itself. You have to be truly dedicated to something, to be able to weather all the storms, power through the lows and just keep going at it even when success seems elusive - that’s how you differentiate.