Befitting a milliner, Shilpa Chavan wears many hats in her multi-disciplinary portfolio.
Her work bridges the worlds of "Art" & "Fashion", infusing unorthodox elements together (utilization of uncanny raw materials, collision of everyday found objects and imprints of new vistas). Her work unfolds layers of curiosity through artworks, installations, scenography, immersive atmospheres, photography, millinery, films, performances.
A science graduate, foraying into fashion, she came with a curiosity for the workings and structures of objects. Her creative journey was initiated as an Artist much before she launched her fashion career and brand. Scaling down her art installation works she has been designing under her own label 'littleshilpa', and handcrafting headpieces and sculptural jewellery into wearable pieces for runway shows, editorial or fashion shoots as well as ad campaigns.
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Fashion studies, styling and creative direction are so inherent in her design vocabulary that each work is imagined as an image first; before transforming into a headpiece or an installation; hence the recurrence of portrait-style imagery. The "documenting" picture style also comes from being a science graduate where the work tries to be as clear as possible while emulating multi-layered, multi-fragmented, multi-textured, multi-coloured characteristics.
Re-invent and hence Re-discover
"The Age of Wonder"
Little Shilpa's work is a culmination of visual diaspora, where concepts and influences range from travel, memories and a need for pushing the boundary. Working under the brand name "littleshilpa" the company draws inspiration from local influences and observations, where pieces in every collection use varied raw materials, fusing ideas collected through travel and multi-cultural interaction. Each piece, from head-pieces to jewellery, & experience, from sensory to the subconscious is individually crafted.
Using fashion as a base, she has used different mediums like styling, photography, videography and art installations as a collective spectrum. Whichever the current concept, the brand aims to be a friend of both the sciences and of l'amour. It is done so by staying ahead of the trends, while still retaining a love for nostalgia and romanticism.
The USP of the brand is that no two pieces are identical -they may have similar styles, but they are never exactly the same. Since Shilpa views her work as applied conceptual designs, and tries to infuse as much melodrama as possible on ramp or presentations, she waters it down for retail and press requests. Her larger exhibited pieces are a starting point towards scaling down the sizes and ideas into more accessible pieces for runway shows, editorial shoots and ad campaigns. The label is shown at London Fashion Week (represented by Fashion Scout), Paris Fashion Week and Lakme Fashion Week, India .
There have been several interesting collaborations with Walt Disney, BBC, Lady Gaga, DHL, Audi to name a few and her works have been featured in several international publications, to name a few.
The brand has been featured in numerous international publications including Vogue, Another Man, Crash, Vogue Homme Japan, Tush, Mixte, Dash etc., and her pieces have been worn by trend-setters such as Lady Gaga, Sonam Kapoor, Cheryl Cole, Kangana Ranaut and Paloma Faith.
Her Art Installation, Photography and Fashion works have been exhibited in India, France, UK, Spain, Germany, Denmark and South Korea.