'Indoi celebrates a legacy of the women who have come before us'

My love for textiles and fashion started at a very young age. Growing up in a mixed heritage household, textiles was integral to the cultures I grew up around. I watched in awe the women in my life as they got dressed up. It was a daily ritual and these women took such pride in their clothes and ultimately their identity, their heritage. I watched how each sari was draped, often by another woman, around their bodies and how after they were worn they were then folded carefully and enveloped in cotton cloth for preservation. I went on shopping trips for fabric with my mother, aunts and grandmother and observed the incredible process from cloth to clothes. 

With a degree in textile design, I unassumingly fell into the world of high street fashion where I fiercely learnt, observed and absorbed until I began to question my role in the industry and in this world.

Through a desire to celebrate these women,  connect back with my heritage, my craft and the planet again, on International Women´s Day 2019 I launched INDOI.

Working initially in close collaboration with my aunt Maheen Khan, a master of her craft in embroidery and pattern cutting, she has, alongside my mother and grandmothers, always been one of my biggest inspirations.

I am of Iranian Bangladeshi descent, with heritage in Burma, India and Pakistan and are preceded by a line of extremely strong-willed women who have broken boundaries, showed immense strength and escaped their traditional paths for want of something else. Something different. Something exciting.

Indoi tells the story of these people, a culture and of a craft. 

Mallika