Harleen Kaur Is Bridging Cultures Through Fashion
Fashion designer Harleen Kaur Chhabra launched her eponymous brand after a shopping trip to India. Merging traditional clothing with Western inspirations wasn’t obvious at a glance. However, realizing that a segment of people — herself included — were looking for versatile clothing options for traditional events, encouraged her to embark on the entrepreneurial journey.
Her namesake brand is now one of New York’s referents for IndoWestern fashion, a clothing style that bridges East and West. Honoring her roots, Kaur blends Punjabi, Thai and American influences in gorgeous bridal clothing and formalwear created to last a lifetime.
East Meets West
Kaur founded her brand in 2017, after jetting to India to shop for her brother’s wedding. As she explains, she was influenced by the desire to merge the cultures she had grown up in and cater to people who, like her, were looking for novel options.
“I was born and raised in Virginia. I was raised by parents who are Punjabi Indian by heritage but were born and raised in Thailand,” she tells EnVi. “Every summer we used to go back to Thailand to visit all of our family. I had different cultures in my household and I grew up in a community where there were a lot of different cultures. The aesthetic that I liked at that time was very global.”
Her diverse upbringing — one where Indian tradition was part of her daily life, but so was Thai and American culture — inspired Kaur to create clothing at the intersection of tradition and contemporary design. “I wanted to be able to provide something to customers that was more versatile,” she explains. “[For example,] being able to take that crop top and skirt that you wore to an Indian wedding and pair it with different items in your closet. Maybe you’re out with friends and you pair the crop top with a pair of jeans or a cute skirt. People weren’t really thinking in that way when it came to Indian fashion at that time.”
On Finding Balance
Kaur herself admits that, when she was younger, she never thought Eastern and Western aesthetics could coexist in the same look. Despite seeing Indian and Western wear share the same space in her closet, the idea didn’t even cross her mind then. “It was one or the other, but they were sitting side by side,” she says. “In my wardrobe, I never mixed the two. It was either you wear that full Indian outfit or the jeans and a tee type of look.”
Over time, however, the idea of fusing aesthetics started taking shape. Once she launched her fashion brand, she was fully committed to bringing the best of both worlds into the Harleen Kaur universe.
The mission has been challenging and rewarding in equal parts.
As Kaur explains, positioning the brand alongside other womenswear contemporary designers based in New York has been a hard-fought effort. She has also found it challenging to balance the influences inspiring her work — an experience many multicultural individuals can relate to. “Over the last eight years I’ve been in business, every year I get pushed in a different direction — further into Indian culture, further out and into the Western [side] and finding a balance is really tough sometimes.”
While the brand has encountered setbacks, Kaur regards her customers’ support and acknowledgment as the most rewarding outcome. “It happens often now, but in the beginning it was only happening here and there [that] people would express how happy they were to have a brand like this exist and be available to them,” she says.
A particular experience with a client finding exactly what she had imagined on her studio racks is embedded in Kaur’s memory. “[It] made me happy because it made me feel we were doing something that is not only beautiful, but also made people feel more comfortable with what they’re wearing and [aligned] with their personality and what they wanted, versus having to settle for something else.
Beyond Indian Wear
For her first fashion show, which took place at New York Bridal Fashion Week last October, Kaur brought the best of her design repertoire to the runway. Sequined sets, vibrant colors and silhouettes reminiscent of Thai and Indian traditional clothing showcased the designer’s ability to incorporate cultural elements into beautifully crafted clothing.
“Because it was my first show ever, I really wanted to show the versatility of the pieces [and that the brand] is made for all,” Kaur shares. “It’s not just this concept of Indian wear. When I first started, I was put in that box [of] ‘this is an Indian designer, only being able to serve the Indian population,’ but over time what has happened — and this is what I intended to happen — is that so many people who are not Indian [are wearing our clothes].”
In addition to her novel design proposals, Kaur places wearability at the core of her brand. As she tells EnVi, her pieces are meant to be repurposed and worn several times, even though many of her customers acquire them for specific occasions. “I would say 50% of our customers are not Indian. Most of them are going to an indian wedding, but they appreciate coming to our brand because they feel they can get use out of the garment afterward,” she says.
“They are buying a crop top and a skirt that they can easily wear to an Indian wedding, but they can also take them to their vacation in Mexico and pair that skirt with a white tee and easily wear it to dinner that night. There are many end uses for our garments than just an Indian wedding, so I really wanted to make it very apparent that it’s not just for Indians. [The brand] is for every size, every type of person. […] I wanted to convey that in the show.”
Creating Responsibly
Kaur’s inaugural runway also emphasized sustainable elements and mindful design. Though she clarifies that not all the materials in her clothing are sustainable, she certainly approached the creation process with a conscious mentality. “I usually find one or two fabrics that I really love and go with that,” she shares. “A lot of the intention behind choosing fabrics is what’s more sustainable and environmentally conscious. [I ask myself] what can I do that’s going to push the envelope a little bit in terms of designing and creativity but with a sustainable element.”
In consonance with her sustainability efforts, Kaur wants to subvert the misguided belief that people shouldn’t repeat outfits, especially in formal and traditional wear. “The rise of fast fashion has pushed the narrative of wear once and throw it out because it’s so cheap that it doesn’t matter — but it really does,” she says. “A lot of designers, including some in the Indian industry, [also push] the notion that you can only wear something once. You can only wear this extremely heavy, very intricately beaded gown only once. That’s crazy to me. You´re spending so much money and you only get to wear it once. So I was trying to find fabrics that’d push that sustainability, but are also beautiful [and you want to wear more than once].”
Celebrating her roots and catering to multicultural customers, Harleen Kaur is one of New York’s most promising creatives. Her gorgeously crafted pieces perfectly convey the meeting of cultures that first inspired her brand. Through her commitment to marrying Eastern and Western aesthetics, the designer has established herself as a go-to for those who appreciate craftsmanship, innovation and beauty.
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