Kanchan Panjabi: Real couture, not real expensive
The Hong Kong-based designer proves artisanal fashion can be hot without being haughty
Kanchan PanjabiRecently nominated by Business Week as one of Asia's Best Young Entrepreneurs,
Hong Kong-based couturier Kanchan Panjabi is winning loyalists with her low-priced couture, offering personal attention and expert tailoring comparable to the best and priciest in traditional artisanal fashion.
Kanchan Panjabi:
Couture is my real passion. It’s creativity at its best. It’s purely about beauty and imagination -- an artist’s work.
Kanch’s style tips::
CNNGo: Describe the Kanchan look.
Kanchan Panjabi:
My look is a mix of East and West. A bit of Dior’s New Look from
1947 revamped with opulent Indian textiles and modern hand-made prints.
CNNGo: Where do your ideas come from?
Kanchan Panjabi:
My brand is inspired by a photograph of my mum sitting on a
motorcycle in 1960’s India. At a time
when everyone around her was wearing saris, she looked so modern. Each
of my collections is inspired by a different memory. My newest
off-the-rack collection is based on the Bauhaus art movement. My uncle
was a seaman and he’d tell us about the architecture and art he saw in
Germany.CNNGo: Why start couture at a time when haute couture’s only getting 200 customers worldwide each year?
Kanchan Panjabi
My designs are couture in some ways, and not in others. It’s hand-crafted, but it’s way cheaper than traditional couture, and there’s a real market for my dresses. Some of my clients are tai tais, or brides on their second marriages who want to look different.
But the sad truth is that real couture is becoming extinct. Couture in the Parisian sense is all about hand stitching, craft, and tradition. But artisans are dying out and no one is learning the craft.
CNNGo: What’s the couture experience like at your shop, L’atelier de Kanch?
Kanchan Panjabi:
Getting a gown done here usually takes three to six months. The cost per dress is HK$20,000 and upwards. I'll invite clients in to sit down and talk, to get to know them better, and come up with 10 dress designs for them to choose from.CNNGo: What does style mean to you?
Kanchan Panjabi:
Style is how people describe you. Audrey Hepburn, for instance, is elegant, timeless, beautiful, royal. It is the composition of a painting, a person, a building.
1. The rule of three – make sure you have three items of the same color on. For instance, matching shoes, earring and a ring will balance out the color in your look.
2. A women’s wardrobe should be composed of 50 percent basic looks, 30 percent fashionable basics and 20 percent high fashion.
3. Choose inspirations from an era, a song, a painting when dressing. Love what you wear.
