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India is one such place where cultural sustainability hangs in the balance. For many, especially those of us in urban centres, it can be easy to wax poetic about the rural village economy—a self-sufficient community model rooted in agriculture as its central industry, supplementing other industries, but it is important to contextualise the realities of the village economy in the face of today’s changing climate, crop failures and market devaluation.
What remains indisputable is the fact that the village economy provides a vision of sustainability that was not rooted in consumption but in participation. That was the version of the village economy I wanted to know better.
Through my travels in my home state of Punjab, I met with farmers who had made the switch back to ancestral farming practices—those which now often carry the contemporary titles ‘organic’ or ‘regenerative’ farming.
All of these farmers framed the return to ancestral practices as a return to spiritual and emotional connections to the land, versus the view that land is a tool to be used solely for output, yield and profit. And in that process, farmers were able to return to pressing matters like biodiversity, native ecologies, water conservation and soil health.
Photos: Hansraj Dochaniya. Art Direction: Naveli Choyal. Creative Direction: Aditi Mayer.
On the Delhi leg of her travels through India, Mayer slips into a beige and red trench coat andpants combo by Guwahati-and Delhi-based label Joskai Studio, worn with shoes from Aera New York.
Photos: Hansraj Dochaniya. Art Direction: Naveli Choyal. Creative Direction: Aditi Mayer.
Many articulated the inherent ties between ancestral farming with ancestral artisan industries and how the destruction of one went hand-in-hand with the other. To protect one is to protect the other, and therefore, our virsa (heritage).
The village economy then, tells us the importance of returning to a model that challenges the idea of mass production and opts for production by the masses. And it is this decentralised approach to which I believe India’s sustainable fashion scene holds the key.
On a visit to Delhi to see a slew of sustainable fashion designers, I found myself in Shahpur Jat, a market rife with brands and designer headquarters alongside the workshops of spinners, weavers, embroiderers, dyers, patternmakers and many other building blocks of the fashion industry.
It was here that I visited Turn Black Studio, a brand selling pieces all in black, made from classic fabrics like cotton, linen and silk, leading the viewer to focus on the delicate features of structure, silhouette and sheerness. The storefront leads to its workshop, where spinning
wheels are in motion alongside master weavers who bring thread to fabric. In the corner of the workshop lies a towering mountain of black bags full of fabric scraps that the brand’s founder, Nutan, has saved since the brand’s conception. They will soon be used for a new venture in upcycling fabric scraps into home decor accessories.
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