Style & Beauty Retail Renegades “If we can give these beautiful fabrics a new life, it helps these communities” Eponine Former stylist Jet Shenkman collected vintage fabrics while working in the Far East, and ten years ago started crafting them into elegant dresses inspired by the 1950s and 1960s in her London studio “because there wasn’t much stylish occasion wear for mature women”, she says. Shenkman works with hand-pleated and embroidered fabrics from the Hmong tribes of Thailand and embroidered linens from Hungary, mixing them into her signature fitted, full-skirted shapes that took off after actress Cressida Bonas wore one to Prince Harry’s wedding in 2018. These are couture, but she uses African prints from Ghana for ready-to-wear versions. “If we can give these beautiful fabrics and craftsmanship a new life, it helps these communities,” she says. “They are making versions of my dresses in Thailand now.” eponinelondon.com Varana Sujata Keshavan launched Varana four years ago to bring modern style to India’s extraordinary textile handcrafts. “Western luxury brands use Indian crafts, but they are endangered because few young people want to learn,” she explains. “I want to make the best work known worldwide.” This includes handspun, handwoven khadi – so even that it scarcely looks handmade, “the most sustainable fabric, just local cotton, rainwater and no machines” – and subtle embroidered details like rows of tiny French knots, contrast hand-stitching or motifs of fine aari embroidery, and traditional woodblock printing in graphic modern designs, precisely placed on tailored and minimal shapes. “Our skilled craftsmen have time to produce their best work, so quality is very high, and we also do bespoke items,” she says. varana.com • “Western luxury brands use Indian crafts, but they are endangered because few young people want to learn” PHOTOS COURTESY THE DESIGNERS 48 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
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