AS A YOUNG GIRL GROWING UP IN THE TOWN
of Jalandhar in India, Kudrat Makkar would drape herself in her
mother’s handmade saris and shawls.
“My love of fabric and fashion started when I was raiding
mum’s wardrobe,” she laughs. “Because I come from a very
small city there was really no contemporary fashion at all, but
mum had a lot of heirloom pieces and that’s how I learned about
quality and craftsmanship.”
As she grew a little older, Makkar would accompany her
mother to visit the artisans who made those garments. “Mum
would go to all these small embroiderers and craftspeople who
worked by hand and she would explain how everything was
done,” says Makkar. “In those days you had to buy the fabric, use
your imagination and then let the craftspeople work their magic.”
From those early studio visits with her mother, Makkar’s own
imagination was sparked and she vowed that one day she
would work in fashion. Three decades later the result is
Mastani, a label based in Melbourne with an atelier in India
and a design team in Milan. The brand’s name comes from that
of an Indian princess who was a symbol of both strength and
femininity, two values Makkar aspires to embody in her designs
that fuse Indian skills spanning centuries with modern cuts
and silhouettes. Traditional hand-looming
techniques and intricate embellishment and
beading are the hallmarks of the label that
aims to preserve and revitalise Indian crafts
while educating its wearers about the culture
of the hands that shaped their garments.
After two years of boarding school in the
Himalayas, where Makkar’s father sent her
to instil a sense of independence and
strength, she moved to Australia, where she
completed an architecture degree at the
University of Melbourne. “I always wanted
to do something in fashion but coming from
an Indian family they really wanted me to do
a degree and I thought architecture was the closest thing while
still staying in the design field,” she says.
When she graduated, an opportunity arose to run an
education business, which Makkar did for five years before
founding Mastani. “Running a business helped me build my
business skills, and studying architecture enabled me to
understand craftsmanship and construction with the kind of
experience you just can’t get in fashion school,” she says.
She decided to bring her creative and commercial nous
together with Mastani two years ago after she went home to
India to see her family. She visited several remote villagesmeeting artisans whose traditional techniques spanned
generations. “We were visiting a few villages because my
father does a lot of charity work in India and I suddenly realised
I could do something that could make a difference,” says
Makkar. “I’d always appreciated the beauty of hand-looming
and embroidery through my upbringing, so I thought I could do
something to help sustain their skills and also, in some small
way, to give back.”
Today, Mastani’s atelier is located
in Bengaluru in the Indian state of Karnataka
and consists of a small team of 20. Artisans
are provided with above-average working
conditions and pay and guaranteed
minimum orders to foster the preservation of
their expertise.
“I commit for, say, the next five years, to an
order of a certain amount every month so they
don’t have to worry about going out and finding
other work,” says Makkar. “A lot of these
traditional techniques are dying because there is
not enough regular work so people have to stop
and become labourers or do odd jobs instead.”
Textile waste at the atelier is minimised, in line with Mastani’s
focus on sustainability. Fabric scraps are kept for finishing and
used on trims on garment bags and some styles, and samples
and garments that do not pass quality control are either upcycled
by the atelier or donated within the local community.
“We pride ourselves on not letting anything go to waste,”
says Makkar.
Mastani’s new spring/summer collection also scores high on
desirability. Easy inky tunic tops, wrap jackets with matching silky
trousers, oversized kimono coats and exquisitely embellished
eveningwear are among the pieces in the range designed to be
worn this season, and for seasons to come, in line with the
original pieces beloved by her mother.
“I want to create heirloom pieces that 10 or 20 years down
the line people will still want to wear,” she says.E“Her
designs fuse
Indian skills
SPANNING
CENTURIES
with modern
cuts and
silhouettes”@mastani.labelWords: Georgina Safe. Photography: Will Davidson, Tracey Lee Hayes
Dress, $699,
MASTANI,
mastanilabel.com