Here’s to a Hat Trick!

Little Shilpa’s dramatic creations have a roster of fashion-conscious clients, Lady Gaga and Sonam Kapoor among them

Milliner Shilpa Chavan, famously known as Little Shilpa, remembers the moment she met her “ultimate muse” Lady Gaga in Delhi last year. Even though it would be the first time she was meeting the diva, Lady Gaga and Shilpa had a history—the pop star had worn a Shilpa creation (sourced by Gaga’s stylist) for the cover of Flare magazine in December 2009. This time round, Shilpa was one of four designers selected to design a look for Lady Gaga. “As soon as she saw me, she exclaimed, ‘I know you. I just love your work.’ And it was the best… to have Lady Gaga know you…”

One of India’s only milliners, or maybe the only one to make hats so sought after as a part of one’s get up, Shilpa has been a darling of the fashion fraternity ever since her first show for Lakme in 2008. “Every Sunday, I meet Shilpa at a sundown event in the suburbs. She always brings along a bag full of headgear for everyone,” says Bandana Tiwari, fashion features editor of Vogue India. “And If I don’t get one,” she adds with a laugh, “I feel so unloved… I’m serious. That’s the kind of emotional impact Shilpa has with her pieces, and you can feel that.”

This writer remembers having attended a few of Shilpa’s shows at Lakme Fashion Week over the past few years, and you may love her pieces or hate them, you won’t ever forget them. Dramatic, melancholy, colourful and yet so intensely dark, her works are a tapestry of her Mumbai roots, her desire to tell a story, and her ability to push the boundaries. Her inspirations—which range from Charles Baudelaire’s Fleurs Du Mal (flowers of evil) to the Mumbadevi temple—yield collections (which include neck pieces and broaches) that are so out-of-the-box that you need to place yourself in a different space to comprehend them.

Be it giant sheer black lopsided ears placed on the head of an angry-looking model dressed as Mickey for her interpretation of ‘memories of Mickey and Minnie’ for Disney, or a sinister silver crown embellished with flowers that models with black tears down their cheeks sported for her Fleurs De Mal line, Shilpa knows how to evoke awe. “I get inspired by everything,” she says, “I’m a collector. I’ve been collecting knick-

knacks—like coins, mini shields, tri-striped bows, name tags, brocade fabric, gold stars and silver chains—forever now, and they find their way into my pieces. My main aim is to tell a story, make you feel something.” Her piece for Lady Gaga was a stunning example of her craft: a bob done in moulded acrylic with a little bow and crown, all in Swarovski crystals, backed with white feathers.

The petite artist from Shivaji Park (who her leggy model friends nicknamed ‘Little Shilpa’) has a clear memory of the first hat she ever liked. “I had a View-

finder on which I used to watch My Fair Lady when I was barely four years old. I was glued to it all day and I loved all her hats. There is one she wears that is a huge black-and-white hat with flowers—it was my favourite.” Her mother, Vaishali, says, “Shilpa was always creative even with things like school projects… I think she watched me stitch clothes and do embroidery and things like bandini, and was influenced by that. Her other sisters are also artists.” Shilpa agrees with her mother: “My mother always found innovative ways to deal with us. If we had to study, we used to pretend we were on the phone with each other,” she says with a chuckle, “I got that streak from her.”

But hats didn’t come into the picture until later. Shilpa went on to do a designing course at SNDT University, and then worked for Channel [V] and Cosmopolitan as a stylist. It was only later, during a stint with designer Hemant Trivedi, that she struck upon her true calling. “Hemant used to do clothes for the Miss India shows. For three years, I designed headgear for swimsuit rounds… Then he told me that if I needed to take this seriously, I needed to go study millinery.” She then trained as a milliner at Central St Martins, London, and followed it up with a stint at Philip Treacy in the UK.

Back in India, all it took was an LFW show, her first, for her to hit the big time in 2008. Apart from Lady Gaga, popstar Nicki Minaj has worn her hats. In India, fashionista Sonam Kapoor and her sister Rhea are big fans. “All my pieces are one of a kind, and everything is handmade. I am also emotionally involved in all my pieces. Nobody used to wear hats, but now they complete a look.”

With acclaim comes criticism, of course. Some people regard her pieces as not prêt enough. “She should really be concentrating on sculpted and architectural works,” remarked London fashion journalist Colin MacDowell, in response to a catwalk show in London two years ago, “Her work should be in galleries, not on catwalks.” But Shilpa takes that as a compliment. “To have your craft referred to as ‘art’ is great. I think he paid me a compliment. Fashion should be art, shouldn’t it? But I do a lot of wearable pieces as well. I am seriously thinking of going into retail on a large scale.”

Asked whether her pieces might be too expensive to sell in such large numbers, she shoots back, “If you can go to a mall and buy mass-produced stuff at any high-street label [store], then you can surely spend on a one-of-a-kind piece. Isn’t that better?” She has a point.

But if you imagine yourself sporting a Little Shilpa hat at your next sundown party, Shilpa would like to forewarn you: “I think it takes a lot of courage to wear a hat. You have to be ready to be the centre of attention. Everyone is going to be looking at you.” Others vouch for it. As supermodel Carol Gracias, a friend and fan of Shilpa, says: “Her pieces are so beautiful that you want to wear them, and they can dress up anything, even a plain black blazer. It projects your identity perfectly. But the real reason I choose her pieces is that they are quirky and their individuality makes me different. In a city where everyone is generic and boring, you need to have your own unique personality. Shilpa can help you do that.”

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