The International Woolmark Prize India, Pakistan and Middle East announced winners for their regional finals—SUKETSHIR and Taller Marmo for the menswear and womenswear categories respectively.
They will now compete for the final prize, and meanwhile are set to showcase their collections in Florence for menwear and New York for womenwear.
Vogue caught up with the excited designers—Yago Goicoechea one-half of Taller Marmo and Suket Dhir of Sukedhir—right after the ceremony.
What's next?
Yago Goicoechea: We want to grow in retail and the Woolmark prize will help us in that direction.
What inspires you?
YG: The cultural intellectual point of view that surrounds us. This particular collection was inspired by the life of Gertrude Bell, a British archaeologist who worked in the Middle East.
Tell us about the collection that you presented
YG: The texture and nature of the fabrics relates to the climatic conditions in Dubai. We have used super-light cool wools and mesh for the travel-inspired collection. It was interesting to work with the contrasting fabrics.
How does it feel to have won the prize?
Suket Dhir: Absolutely surreal!
What was your reference for the collection?
SD: I was thinking of my grandad's mango orchard in Banga, Punjab.
How to you plan to take the collection forward?
SD: We have worked in Ikat, which is out forte. Ikat is a craft that requires technical perfection that’s beyond my capacty as a designer. We worked with the weavers in Telangana, without whom this wouldn’t have been possible. Working wool into a weave that’s traditionally created using cotton or silk yarn was a first, but retail was a point of focus since the inception of the collection. We have about 300 pieces in production underway.
Did you have a mentor when working on the project?
SD: Professor Asha Bakshi, who was the former All India Dean at the National Institute Of Fashion Technology (NIFT) was immensly helpful as a guide.
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