Lavina Lekhari, a young girl from Udaipur, is all set to break stereotypes! Yes, the young soul is making her name through upcycling clothes. Aren’t you eager to know what she is doing and how she is doing it? So, let us dive into a conversation with her and have a glimpse of the work of this fashion buff!
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Tell Us in Detail What Do You Do and How Did You Start?
It all came into my life when I realized that my love for dressing up was not just a craze, I wanted to engage in this full-time! Right now, I am pursuing BA and also chasing my dream of becoming a fashion artist. I shred and upcycle clothes and make them funkier and happening. And is all because of my love for getting dolled up.
Like every star has its own shine my shine is my art. I love being creative. My learning started when I was just 4 years old. My brother has always supported me and you can call him my “BACKBONE”! Initially, I started dancing. I continued my schooling and dancing simultaneously and soon I became a choreographer alongside my brother, Sumit and then one thing led to another and now I am here, a budding fashion artist.
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Since When Are You Doing Shredding and Upcycling?
I began my journey when I was in my teens as a junior choreographer and dancer. At the age of fourteen l started upcycling fashion.
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How Did You Get the Inspiration to Start Upcycling Fashion?
I get attracted by colors, texture, compilation and don’t like wasting all these beautiful things. For me, my inspiration is my colorful wardrobe and my brother. He used to work as a laborer in factories. He always motivated me, not just by words but by his actions too, his craziness of being a perfectionist and working insanely for achieving something was always applauded. My mother used to work with crotchet and bangles and made new handmade clothes to earn a living. I have seen poverty very closely and that made me come up with upcycled fashion.
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Tell Us About the Fashion Shows You’ve Been A Part Of?
I started with choreographing fashion shows along with designing them which I thought was my smart move towards learning and experiencing fashion. I came up with my first choreographed and design fashion show- LA✂STYLE DANCE FASHION SHOW in 2015 then the count didn’t stop.
I have collaborated with an NGO and choreographed an ‘Old Age Fashion Show’ for ‘Tara Seva Sansthan’ which was another great experience. I came up with my second designed and choreographed fashion show for kids in 2017 called the ‘Let’s Walk Together’, for which I received appreciation from a Bollywood director Viveck Vaswani.
Working my way up through the ladder, I have done INIFD fashion show, Muffins fashion show etc.
5. What All You Have Made Up till Now Using Upcycled Fashion?
I love thinking out of the box and that lead me to the creation of upcycling fashion.
I want to ask the readers, what do you all do with your old tops, lowers, t-shirts, shirts, skirts, shorts, jewelry, etc.?
A general answer would be throwing them in the trash, but I love recreating them. Till now I have created more than 400 designs out of what you would throw in the trash. I had worked with ropes to make a big rope gown and even created new designer dresses for dancing shows and acts.
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Where Did You Learn This Art Form?
I’ve never been to a Fashion college. Creativity is something that I have learned from my mother.
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What Challenges Did You Face While Pursuing This Form of Art?
Like every field, fashion entails fear of being rejected, stress and sometimes depression. Climbing out of tribulations by my own efforts is something of which I am proud of myself.
Fashion is something which is self-romanticizing. I was my own mannequin when I started because I didn’t have people with me. I still remember that after my first fashion show I got a lot of mixed reviews- some even called my art as vulgar and obscure, but these things never let me down.
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How Much Are People Interested to Buy These Clothes?
When I started shredding and upcycling, I loved myself seeing in it. I wore my own created fashion which undoubtedly got amazing and satisfying comments which boosted my confidence in my art.
Changes are tough to accept but I believe that once shredding and shredded clothes enter the world of Bollywood and social media, it would eventually change the mind of people across the country. According to me, 60% of teenagers are interested to buy these kinds of clothes.
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Do You Want to Make This Your Full-Time Career?
Life is made up of three ingredients for learning, earning and yearning. I have learned so much from this that definitely, I would love to pursue this as my career. I believe that whatever you do, whether you earn or not, the work must make your happy! Because for every minute you are unhappy, you lose 60 seconds of happiness.
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Where Do You See Yourself with This in Future?
I want to put shredding in the world of fashion. I want to do something today that my future self will thank for. I dream of promoting this art by doing live cuttings (shredding) for the people. I see upcycling as the new-age trend in the fashion industry. My dream is to see LAVSTYLE as a brand (I gave a name to my work LAVI’S STYLE = LAVSTYLE).
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What’s Your Mantra For Life?
Keep yourself hungry for improvement. Close your ears and do what you like because ‘girls of Fashion starve their happiness to feed their vanity and their love to spread pride!’
It was great knowing this beautiful girl from our City of Lakes! Lavina is all set to break stereotypes and pave her own path to the success! If you wish to ask anything to Lavina, you can put up questions in the comment section below.
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