FORMER VOGUE MAGAZINE’S editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley understands the tenacious business of fashion more than anyone else. That’s why he admitted that it is almost like “Arctic” out there, and “you have to get through so many icebergs”. To Vanessa Freidman of the New York Times, he said, “Fashion does not take care of its people. No one is going to take care of me, except I am going to take care of myself.” This sums up the fashion-o-sphere, but there are Samurais who have flown under the radar. Like the Mumbai-based Payal Singhal, who survived this rather harsh world with fortitude!

And no, she isn’t a newbie; she has been around since there was only one fashion week in the country, IMG’s, almost 20 years ago. Maybe that’s why she learnt to effectively navigate the proverbial Arctic. Few know that Payal comes from a family, where fashion was the focal point, back to the time when her father started London Fashion, the first ready-to-wear label in the 1970s. It was the Indian answer to Mango or Zara. It imported denim from England, and created a melange of tops to go with it.

For those who have been around as long as the sequins in fashion, London Fashion was where the Shahab Durazi store is right now. And when the family could not import denim, Payal’s father ventured into Indian wear, supplying to the multiple departmental stores. “My dad was also an integral part of the CMAI (Clothing Manufacturers Association of India), which was the only fashion body, even before the Fashion Design Council of India was formed,” she smiles.

What’s quite ingenious is that Payal dresses almost 50% of the brides online, focuses on mixed marriages, and people come to her for some pizzazz. Couture is all about craftsmanship and playing hide-and-seek with techniques like what Rimzim Dadu and Rahul Mishra indulge in, where their fabric manipulations and new textures have redefined the fashion space.

“I, on the other hand, stick to what I know best. Prints, which we develop, are based on my inspirations and they can be wallpapers, destinations, poems, Mughal gardens, art books, and vintage themes. It is not set in stone. We then develop colour ways, tell a story, and do work with highend embroideries too,” she says.

She began doing prints five years ago, stuck to them as they became her lexicon, and made them timeless. “I have clients who show me their 20-year-old outfits, and claim that they still wear it, as the prints are classic. It makes me finally say that I am sustainable, as you want to wear my products over and over again,” she giggles. The raging debate the world over is how fashion needs to be less consumerist and more soul-oriented, especially after films like the True Cost and the Rana Plaza disaster, where factory workers making clothes in abominable conditions for fast-fashion giants died in ablaze. 

“My bit in the ocean of sustainability is that we donate our katrans (waste fabrics) to charities, or for pillow stuffing. We don’t use paper and try not to work with plastic. I think more than anything we need to be mindful,” she explains.   

Payal is not rapacious, but someone who pushes the boundaries of what one is supposed to do, questioning set notions. If Monisha Jaising added a leather lehenga with a plain white knotted shirt, Payal created lehengas with ragged hems, and translucent ones with shorts. “You know a lot of people struggle with aesthetics versus commerce, but somehow I never played that tug-of-war. My dad taught me a valuable lesson: ‘You must always know the customer you are designing for, and once that is clear everything else falls into place’. I followed that to the T,” she says.

That’s why her customer base extends from the US to Australia, as her ensembles are seasonless and offer a borderless appeal. “I would attribute this spurt to social media (it also offers instant gratification), as it helped me to build a brand and reach out to every nook and corner of the world. Most of our queries get converted into profitable offers,” she says.

Payal is one of the few designers who has realised that the only way to grow is to expand. She has tied up with not just a beauty company, Wella, but also launched her perfume brand, Tender Intense, and does tech-friendly skins, hoping to create a new audience who wants a part of the designer’s pie. She is in talks with a company to curate wallpaper, bed linen and tapestry, as home furnishing has always been an area of interest. “Our perfume was made in France, but somehow it didn’t quite catch fire as it needed to reach the right consumer. It was quite a fragrance with jasmine and floral overtones (released in January 2018),” she says.

If you ask her why should an Indian woman, who is spoilt for choice, come to Payal Singhal for an outfit, her answer is simple, “I give clean cuts and uncomplicated silhouettes that will last you many moons.” She laughs and adds that she can’t mix techniques, and finds layering tough, but which stalwarts like Anju Modi have made their signature. Payal’s strength is “Swedish” design known for a minimalist approach, and where there is only one focal point. “Indian trousseau wear is not considered austere but you know that’s the only thing that works now—elegance. Like nothing can beat the brick-and-mortar feel of buying a lehenga. When you try it, there is an Aha!’ moment, as opposed to ordering it online,” she says.

Not a big fan of the Internet age, Payal jauntily admits that she got her first email account when she went to Parsons to keep in touch with family. She is happy that even the renowned Amitabh Bachchan pops up on her Insta stories today, but that hasn’t made her an addict.

Participating in Bridal Asia after almost ten years, she remembers the founder Divya Gurwara telling her in 1999 that she will make it big. “I really am not in the rat race. Neither do I aspire to touch the finish line first, nor do I want a store in every big city (though she does have a cool one in Delhi that she opened with Malvika Poddar of Carma). But I want to soak myself in product development, do a menswear line, kids’ line (she already has one but wants it to evolve) and also a prêt line. All this without selling my soul,” she concludes.

She is likely to do this. She is in good hands, literally and metaphorically. Her husband, who joined the business and set up her website, is an MBA in marketing, and can convert good ideas into profits with his production skills.  He can help her to leapfrog into the sunset with her name, and brand firmly etched on the cornerstone of fashion’s pedagogy.