INTERVIEW with Brisbane Fashion Month 2023 Designer - CHAMANI
Above: Keying Xue in CHAMANI
SD: Hi Chamani, for my readers who don’t know you yet, can you please introduce yourself?
C: My name is Chamani, the founder and designer behind my namesake, purpose-driven, label CHAMANI. But I’m not just a designer - I wear many different hats and it’s been quite the journey with many twists, turns, heartbreaks, tough lessons, and triumphs to creating my label! I’ve gone from being a hospital pharmacist, to tour guide in South-East Asia, to side-hustling as a fashion designer while working as a pharmacist again in the hospital system. I launched my label during the height of the pandemic while working as a frontline worker, so it’s been a wild ride so far but the purpose of the brand has truly kept me going!
CHAMANI is a conscious luxury, wearable activism brand that fights for freedom, equality and opportunity for marginalised women, girls and communities, through timeless, thoughtful wearable art. CHAMANI is more than a brand but a movement. We solely exist to create IMPACT, using fashion as a force for good and a vehicle for change through a unique value-chain where we can give back at every stage of production and beyond.
SD: What was the biggest inspiration behind your latest collection?
C: I’m striving to do fashion differently, so for each collection I partner with talented artisan communities and women’s cooperatives or charities to ethically make our unique fabrics. Each piece is then made right here in our Brisbane studio. My latest textile collaboration is with a lovely women’s charity in India who created some divine fabrics using eco-dye. They hand dye handloomed silk using recycled temple flowers. It’s the most beautiful process and this was certainly my biggest inspiration for this latest collection and it’s special designs.
SD: What helps you get in the zone when you’re designing?
C: Designs seem to come to me at all different times and locations. I generally don’t really sit down to “design” or draw out all my designs until they are formed in my mind already!
I find a lot of inspiration from everything around me especially when I’m travelling. Most of my inspiration comes from textiles. When I was a tour guide in Asia, I was so lucky to meet the most amazing artisan collectives and women’s cooperatives – some that I use as partners/suppliers today! They create the most incredible textiles, using ancient and often sacred techniques that have been passed down through generations. When I see an amazing fabric or textile, my mind goes into overdrive dreaming up a design that would complement it perfectly. The fabrics speak to me and then somehow magic happens and the designs come to me.
SD: How do you want people to feel when wearing your pieces?
C: I want people to feel empowered, feminine and above all PROUD when they wear a CHAMANI design. CHAMANI pieces are very limited in number. They are an immediate conversation piece that exude elegance and sophistication - you truly standout from the rest of the crowd at an event! Each garment is designed with our beautiful and ever-evolving bodies in mind, so you can feel radiant and confident in the piece no matter what natural changes your body may be going through. I also want people to feel proud knowing that their CHAMANI piece is much bigger than fashion - it’s part of a movement. It’s wearable activism that fights for freedom and opportunity for women and girls around the world and does right by our mother earth.
SD: What is your favourite part of being a designer?
C: Meeting my amazing customers in person or getting a lovely email/ DM from a customer with a photo of them wearing their purchase or telling me how much they love their new forever piece!
While I LOVE the design process and seeing all the garments I’ve dreamed up become a reality, I also love seeing the impact we can make to people’s lives through the brand, using fashion as a vehicle for change! This is the main reason I started the brand – to create IMPACT.
SD: Without giving too much details away, what should we expect from your collection for Brisbane Fashion Month?
C: Dreamy, floaty designs that have a beautiful tale to tell. They will entice the senses, mesmerise the mind and display the amazing craftsmanship (or crafts-womanship I should say!) of the flower dyeing process. These pieces are so versatile. The perfect day to night looks that can be worn for any occasion – from corporate meetings to weddings, engagements, birthdays and other special events. Pieces that every woman can envisage themselves wearing no matter their size, age or background.
Tickets are going fast. If you want to see CHAMANI on the runway, get your Brisbane Fashion Month 2023 tickets here
Brisbane Fashion Month Website: http://www.brisbanefashionmonth.com.au/
Brisbane Fashion Month Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brisbanefashionmonth/
Brisbane Fashion Month Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/brisbanefashionmonth/
CHAMANI’s social media presence:
Website: http://www.chamani.com.au/
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/chamani.official/
Tiktok: http://www.tiktok.com/@chamani_official
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chamani.official
Above: Photo supplied by CHAMANI|