A major in Menswear and an enthusiast of all things coloured, up and coming innovator Meghana Kiran is currently completing her degree at Istituto Marangoni, Firenze. If one were to ask what led her towards design, she’ll tell you it comes naturally. It is evident through her work, the delightful quirkiness she exhibits illustrates a similarity to no one in the design market yet. While her initial inclination was towards product design, she eventually found comfort in creating clothes. In the present moment, she feels more confident with material design. “Even growing up, I learnt a lot with plaster of Paris, recycled plastic and I did a lot of small workshops during summer. But I also keep my mind open, I don’t really know what is gonna strike me tomorrow and I don’t know where I will end up.”
When it comes to her practice, Meghana is confident it is a representation of who she is. At the onset of her journey, she may have felt obligated to represent people and their stories but it resulted in her being led astray from her own values and ethics. “It is a beautiful thing to represent but I think it’s more important to represent yourself because that really makes the world around you absorb what you put out, perhaps they relate to you and you inevitably represent them.”
As someone who has been knitting for over a year, she claims she discovered the art of her unique knitting through Channing Hansen and feels as though her work pays tribute to those who have inspired her. “So much of their work is in my practice, their techniques and knowledge is in my practice. Nothing inspires me more than textiles.” Even the simple act of visiting a yarn shop gets her creative juices flowing which leads to her constructing samples in her head. Describing her creative process as chaotic, Meghana attempts to take me through it. Her first foray into a creation is from the point when inspiration strikes and she combines her idea with a product or material to give it a concrete shape. It is a work in loving progress because on most days, she ends up starting again. “I believe my creative process never ends. It’s endless collages and haphazard sketches, making my samples, technical drawings, starting with muslin prototypes and eventually after many changes, start with final fabrics, select the most appropriate samples and go full force.”
Interestingly, her latest offering, the Pac Man collection, wasn’t about the character altogether. It stemmed from an existential crisis and is the embodiment of her coping mechanism - reading. “I read about how people believed we all live in a simulation and that led me to exploring games and then Pac Man hit the jackpot.”
She also found a certain therapy in creating knitwear, the kind of intricate, liberating concentration granted by adult colouring books. Every single stitch builds up her pieces into works of art and these carefully thought out pieces are what fuel her with pride. Her’s is a skill that has brought discipline and patience into her quotidian routine. “Creating something with your own hands, from yarn to fabric gives a high. I take my needles everywhere I go and there are unlimited possibilities with what you can produce with knitting.”
At a time when there is immense discourse that surrounds fashion, sustainability and the future, the young designer is of the view that it is vital for fashion to rethink itself and look inwards. “There is so much inconsideration and insensitivity, the industry is so populated and the cycle is vicious. I still struggle to avoid Zara but I think we should educate and be responsible in our doings. I’m sure the Miu Miu skirts are blowing up and they are cute but really, in my opinion the system is flawed.” She believes fashion isn’t about glamour anymore but rather is getting uglier by the day with prohibitively exploitative capitalist workings and materials that may be convenient but incredibly harsh for the earth. While the system itself can’t be changed within a day or two, Meghana’s outlook favours the intent more than the optics.
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Text Unnati Saini
Date 05-07-2022