How 4 Kashmiri fashion brands put the troubled valley on the global style map

There is always a lot of talk in the fashion world about the great strides Indian designers have made, both in India and internationally. Mainstays such as Tarun Tahiliani have launched highly profitable joint ventures with Indian companies, masters like Sabyasachi are taking one financial step after another, and young talents such as Dhruv Kapoor and Rahul Mishra have taken the Fashion Week by storm. Milan and Paris Fashion Week.

One wonders how much talent the rest of the country must possess, those outside our megacities or even in regions further removed from political unrest. Like Kashmir, a land of immense beauty that has inspired everyone from the ancient Greeks to Sufi saints to Bollywood.

Kashmir is called the Valley of the Sufis. We are highly spiritual people, says Tariq Dar, “Crafts for us are akin to spirituality. Dar, 46, and his brand Pashmkaar, is one of the valley's upcoming fashion brands that aims to sell across India and internationally as well. I come from a family of artisans. My father was 12 when his father died and he was forced to be the breadwinner. His first salary for making an embroidered shawl was 25 paise, says Dar. But before getting married, he decided to sell his shawls himself, instead of working for others. He created his own little unit. I was thus born into color and embroidery, into craftsmanship and culture.

Dar founded her brand in 2011, taking its name from its Persian origins (Pashm means finest silk in Persian and kaar means work). Pashmkaar makes the most beautiful embroidered shawls in Kashmir, but also pashmina saris, pherans (the traditional state tunics) in velvet, silk and wool which, according to Dar, even New York customers love, and jackets in aari. Our aari, sozni and tilla works are the best. We are expensive, but we are masters of the trade, he reasons.

What is it like to live and work in Kashmir? Operationally, it is very difficult, says Aadil Masood, 35, who launched his brand Cilwana in 2018. It is very difficult to run a successful business here. Political problems have slowed us down. Our work culture is also not as efficient as that of New Delhi, he explains. What Aadil and his designer wife Nusaiba, 33, decided to do was keep the crafts as local as possible. We have karkhanas (workshops) in many Indian cities, he says, “For example, we do our chikankari in Lucknow, our embroidery in Bareilly and our jootis (Indian mules) come from Punjab. This way we use the best craftsmen from all over India. We had a factory here which employed 80 to 100 people, but this one is a better model because it respects the work of local artisans. There is no shortcut.

Masood and his wife had a corporate existence in Dubai. He worked for Nestlé and she for Citibank before returning to Srinagar. My father was being treated in a hospital in New Delhi and we had moved there temporarily. Nusaiba took a fashion design course at Pearl Academy. We launched an online brand and immediately sold our products, he recalls. Masood says his model of sourcing locally instead of buying in bulk has served him well.

Tul Palav is one of the most beautiful wedding brands in India, and yet relatively unknown in much of the country. It was founded by Iqra Malik, 32, nine years ago, a long-held dream of being fashionable when she was a young child. There was no fashion school in Kashmir, maybe a few courses, but nothing that gave a diploma, she says, I had to pursue the art stream. But after my master's degree, I was interning at the Red Cross when I realized that I could no longer stay away from design. I didn't know much, but I found the name Tul Palav. It is a very common Kashmiri proverb, Tul Palav, Vat Salav, which means pick up your clothes and leave.

The Kashmiri population immediately connected with the name. Additionally, Iqra was known for always being well dressed among her friends. I started Tul Palav on Instagram with just 20 assets. In 30 minutes, they were all sold out, she adds.

Iqra married Rameez Malik, a software engineer from Chicago and moved to the United States. But I couldn't manage my label remotely. Eventually we both came back. He now works with Tul Palav, he takes care of the marketing and affairs of the label. Of course, it was very controversial in Kashmir, she laughs.

Tul Palav is proudly a Kashmiri brand, says Iqra. Our embroidery is purely Kashmiri. We will bring in elements of Afghan or Lucknowi work, but the soul of Kashmir is evident in everything we do. Tul Palavs pherans are popular bridal pieces among Kashmiri women as every local bride has a pheran in her trousseau. Soni Razdan and Kiran Rao also shopped at his store in Srinagar.

Who knew that Kashmiri jewelry was once a highly coveted item? All these political upheavals had adverse consequences on the arts of Kashmir. Some have survived, such as shawls, papier-mâché and walnut wood. But that's not the case with jewelry, we just can't compete with Jaipur, says Nane Mohammed Mubashir Kathwari, 51, of Corals Gems and Jewels.

Kathwari specializes in handcrafted Kashmiri silver and gemstone jewelry, with one of its two stores in Srinagar in a 150-year-old ancient house, Bait ul Meeras. The Kashmir chinar, or maple leaf, is a recurring motif in her jewelry as well as in her comb cases, watches, glasses, trinkets, etc. Corals mainly sells contemporary jewelry, as Kathwari says, “Limited people like traditional jewelry. Only tourists like traditional jewelry.

Beautiful Shazia Bashir, 42, moved from New Delhi to Srinagar a few years ago and is blown away by the fabrics, colors and craftsmanship of Kashmiri fashion. Everything is entirely handmade. But there is also a mysticism to their work. The seamstresses and embroiderers sing hymns and chat as they work. So a pheran is not just a pheran, it is a prayer, she said. Bashir now organizes pop-ups in Srinagar and New Delhi, enabling design exchange.

Kashmiri brands are finding ways to reach the world. Tul Palav has 96,000 followers on Instagram and has started participating in exhibitions in New Delhi and Dubai. They will be opening a men's boutique next month and will also be expanding their bridal boutique. Pashmkaar has 78,000 followers on Instagram, but Dar takes his shawls everywhere, from the US to the UK (he just returned from a pop-up at London's posh Browns hotel). Cilwana has three stores in Srinagar, including one at the airport, and will soon launch its own store in Dubai. They have participated in more than 30 exhibitions. Corals works through word of mouth, as Mubashirbhai says it is a one-man show. But Rekha Bharadwaj is a fan and so is Kiran Rao. He lent jewelry to Bharadwaj's filmmaker husband Vishal Bharadwajs. Haider, filmed here a few years ago. He has also exhibited at handloom legend Laila Tyabjis Dastkaar in New Delhi, and with Radhi Parekh, at the Artisans Center in Mumabis Kala Ghoda.

Kashmiris are the soul of every label here. Everyone has heard of pashmina, but until I showed them the real deal, they had no idea how amazing it was. Many brands sold shawls in pashmina form, but they were cheap imitations. I wanted to offer the world a true pashmina brand that would be internationally recognizable. I want to preserve Kashmiri craftsmanship and bring dignity to the artisan. There are 12 steps to making a pashmina, so one shawl provides work for 12 people, Dar explains.

Iqra agrees. Things were different for women in fashion, families didn't allow them to go into design thinking that girls would become models, as if that was a bad thing, she laughs. Earlier, few Kashmiri women worked for us; there are now more of them. Women have been sewing for years. It’s time for them to take ownership of their skills and become entrepreneurs.