The man designed his own journey by branding Kashmir through various global art projects. Far from his homeland, his art acumen had made him an unassuming cultural ambassador, who took the native way of life to different parts of the world. Even before a renowned Indian actress would don his designer pheran as her airport look to the delight of shutterbugs and paparazzi in recent times, 53-year-old Kashmiri fashion designer Irfan Rashid Wani had come a long way.
Wani’s designer journey, however, had a quintessential beginning, in the eventful epoch of eighties, when Kashmir-based artisans and their trade had begun facing tough times. Years later, the constraints on the artisan class would grow and force many of them to shun their “golden hands” and drive three-wheelers for living.
But the likes of Wani would eventually emerge as a silver lining for the battered community.
The designer came from Srinagar’s Nigeen area. As a child, he would see his grandfather late Haji Mohammad Jamal working with artisans and hosting customers from across the world. After his schooling from Tyndale Biscoe School and DAV School, he followed his grandfather’s footsteps.
For the word go itself, young Wani wanted to be an entrepreneur and a fashion designer.
It was ’80s, when he began chasing his designer dream quite vigorously. Then, Kashmir was booming with tourism and artisan activities. Amid terrible offensive back home, he tried to maintain his focus—visiting Mumbai, Goa, Udaipur and Delhi—to learn various design skills.
Once done with his field trip cum study, he started selling his designed shawls in New Delhi. With time, eventually, he went global, and worked with Lebanese, Kuwaitis and people from other parts of the Middle East.
Years later, his design journey would finally shape into SI Lifestyle, an upscale fashion brand—focusing on brewing up fashion statements out of traditional embroideries and techniques.
“It stands for Suraiya Irfan [SI] Lifestyle. Suraiya is my wife’s name. Without her support, I wouldn’t have come this far in life today,” Wani says. “The brand is based on the concept of fusion, relating to the style of the modern generation.”
Recently his designed pheran was bought through an online portal called Kashmir Box by Indian actress, Kangana Ranaut. “She had bought two pherans,” Wani says. “She even posted a picture of one of them.” It was, however, not the first occasion when the prominent personalities had donned his designer robes.
But given how fake is now becoming mainstream, akin to news, Wani is toiling hard to maintain trust in the original—the unparalleledproduct which once made high-end European travelers and tourists to fall and bat for Brand Kashmir.
“I saw people selling fake Pashmina, which is doing a great disservice to the art and artisans. It’s like undoing the love of labour of our ancestors,” Wani says. “A non-Kashmiri doesn’t know the difference. This is where we need to put our foot down and come together, to salvage our native brand.”
And to do that, the designer feels, Kashmiri artisans need to update themselves about the changing times and global standards.
“Our local artisans need to understand the international demand and modernize their art accordingly,” Wani continues. “That’s the only way they’ll get their due.”
