Ashwini Bindra arrives an hour and a half late for the photo shoot she is styling. She runs down the steps of Auckland’s St Kevin’s Arcade in heels, announcing that the make up artist has fainted.
She’s the first to point out the obvious irony; after all it’s usually the models who faint.
It’s nothing compared to the fledgling stylist’s first shoot. A trip to Auckland’s Bethels Beach turned into a day where anything that could go wrong, did.
The model attempted to get changed in the middle of the bush walkway, while half the families in Auckland made their way past to the beach.
A stray dog with a curious sign round its neck saying “send me home” decided to follow her everywhere.
A group of teenagers drove through every shot on their dirt bikes. The photographers light reflector was blown away by a strong gush of wind and on the drive home they got a flat tire.
The path of fashion is never easy to follow it would seem. And for Indian born Ashwini it’s been a long and winding road to get to where she is now.
She moved to New Zealand from Mumbai at 17, with no thought of entering the fashion industry. She expected, half-heartedly to just become an accountant.
The 23-year-old now works as the assistant designer for New Zealand based label State of Grace, as well as working as a freelance stylist.
“I wouldn’t ever want to limit myself to just one thing, one career again,” says Ashwini, who now shudders, visibly, at the thought of becoming an accountant.
“At one point I wanted to be an astronaut, I think I was 12. I loved the helmets and the spacesuits and I really wanted to be at NASA just to wear one,” laughs Ashwini.
On arrival in New Zealand however, it was McDonalds that awaited her, not NASA, accounting, or fashion.
After working in fast food part time through her final year of high school she enrolled in a foundation fashion course on a whim.
The seemingly glamorous and creative lifestyle appealed to her. She had never used a sewing machine in her life. She had no idea what a pattern was, and was surprised to find out it was made on paper.
She recalls feeling one step behind everyone all that year but resolutely made her way through that year and a further three years of a degree in fashion at AUT.
In her second year she studied on an exchange at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. She returned home determined to design a collection based on the prostitute filled “hotel” she had lived in, and the grungy street life of Toronto’s homeless.
Instead, she was urged to design a collection based on her ethnic roots, on a life in India she hadn’t returned to for five years.
Annoyed at what she considered stereotyping, Ashwini embarked on creating a collection which conveyed what she felt was the ‘real’ India - looking past the bright colours and patterns.
“Designers like John Galliano just pick up the surface of India, you can tell it’s just the obvious stuff. I love John Galliano but it’s very costumey, he hasn’t gone into any depth.”
It was that final year women’s collection- based on the dirty, dusty, rural aspects of Indian menswear - which took her to the black sand dunes at Bethels beach that fateful day.
Determined not to be “boxed” by her culture she took her revenge and used a fair, blonde, blue-eyed model. She says she wanted a little “irony”.
She’s the first to point out the obvious irony; after all it’s usually the models who faint.
It’s nothing compared to the fledgling stylist’s first shoot. A trip to Auckland’s Bethels Beach turned into a day where anything that could go wrong, did.
The model attempted to get changed in the middle of the bush walkway, while half the families in Auckland made their way past to the beach.
A stray dog with a curious sign round its neck saying “send me home” decided to follow her everywhere.
A group of teenagers drove through every shot on their dirt bikes. The photographers light reflector was blown away by a strong gush of wind and on the drive home they got a flat tire.
The path of fashion is never easy to follow it would seem. And for Indian born Ashwini it’s been a long and winding road to get to where she is now.
She moved to New Zealand from Mumbai at 17, with no thought of entering the fashion industry. She expected, half-heartedly to just become an accountant.
The 23-year-old now works as the assistant designer for New Zealand based label State of Grace, as well as working as a freelance stylist.
“I wouldn’t ever want to limit myself to just one thing, one career again,” says Ashwini, who now shudders, visibly, at the thought of becoming an accountant.
“At one point I wanted to be an astronaut, I think I was 12. I loved the helmets and the spacesuits and I really wanted to be at NASA just to wear one,” laughs Ashwini.
On arrival in New Zealand however, it was McDonalds that awaited her, not NASA, accounting, or fashion.
After working in fast food part time through her final year of high school she enrolled in a foundation fashion course on a whim.
The seemingly glamorous and creative lifestyle appealed to her. She had never used a sewing machine in her life. She had no idea what a pattern was, and was surprised to find out it was made on paper.
She recalls feeling one step behind everyone all that year but resolutely made her way through that year and a further three years of a degree in fashion at AUT.
In her second year she studied on an exchange at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. She returned home determined to design a collection based on the prostitute filled “hotel” she had lived in, and the grungy street life of Toronto’s homeless.
Instead, she was urged to design a collection based on her ethnic roots, on a life in India she hadn’t returned to for five years.
Annoyed at what she considered stereotyping, Ashwini embarked on creating a collection which conveyed what she felt was the ‘real’ India - looking past the bright colours and patterns.
“Designers like John Galliano just pick up the surface of India, you can tell it’s just the obvious stuff. I love John Galliano but it’s very costumey, he hasn’t gone into any depth.”
It was that final year women’s collection- based on the dirty, dusty, rural aspects of Indian menswear - which took her to the black sand dunes at Bethels beach that fateful day.
Determined not to be “boxed” by her culture she took her revenge and used a fair, blonde, blue-eyed model. She says she wanted a little “irony”.
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