To celebrate South Asian Heritage Month, we partnered with designer Tasnim Chowdhury to showcase her Bachelor’s Collection.
What does South Asian Heritage Month mean to you personally?
To me, South Asian Heritage month is honouring and celebrating our heritage and being given the platform and space for our community to embrace our culture and feel porud of our roots. Although this is a great opportunity and privilege, I also believe that the conversations that we have during this month should ultimately continute to be celebrated all year round and not just once the month ends. Representation and platform accessibility shouldn’t be seasonal; it should co-exist when we create and collaborate.
As brands celebrate South Asian Heritage, it would be amazing to see fewer performative moments and instead make genuine commitments, continue working with South Asian models. designers, photographers, creatives and the many talented people within our community.
How has your cultural background influenced your journey as a designer?
Being Bangladeshi and growing up in London, I feel proud of my culture and heritage. I feel proud of my culture and heritage. My culture has influenced my journey as a designer. It has given me the confidence to story tell in a way where I am able to speak and embrace both my community and family. I can unapologetically be myself through my work. In my work, my culture is at the heart of everything i create. From the materials I choose to the silhouettes, draping, and my cultural references; my heritage is always present, as I find it’s the most honest and inspiring way for me to be able to story tell and design. With all the incredible textiles and material Bangladesh has preserved for centuries, I feel inspired and proud to continue learning and honouring these techniques in any way I can.
How do you celebrate your heritage in your everyday life or through your work?
I celebrate my heritage by continuing to share my family’s stories and the stories of my community, no matter what space I’m in. It feels natural to me to talk about heritage and keep those memories and traditions alive through conversation. My work celebrates my heritage in a personal way where my nostalgia and memories of my upbringing are attached, which i think depicts a celebration of my heritage through my work. This has also given me the opportunity to meet people and to collaborate with amazing South Asian Creatives.
What impact do you hope your presence in the industry has on younger South Asian creatives?
I would want my presence in the industry to create a further conversation about embracing more South Asian representation within the industry. For our community to be heard, seen and celebrated, and for our stories to be told authentically and consistently. Our creativity, voices, and contributions deserve to be recognised, celebrated, and invested in. We should feel safe and apricated in creative spaces – not othered or tokenised. I hope my work can continue to contribute to this and build on the foundations laid by the many inspiring South Asian designers who have paved the way, opening doors for more South Asian designers so that it doesn’t feel like a fight to feel belonged for future generations.
Are there any South Asian designers you’d love to collaborate with?
There are so many South Asian designers I admire and appreciate. The designers that come to mind are Bibi Russel, Supriya Lele and Charlotte Chowdhury. These designers have such distinct and personal approaches to designing and story telling in their own ways. the opportunity to collaborate with any of them would be a dream come true.
CREDITS
Designer Tasnim Chowdhury
Photographers Maya Aska & Sonia Abbas
MUA Zaynah Ahmed
Models Kerethika Rosairo & Armaan Mondol
