Ocean-worn beauty meets couture alchemy

When fashion designer Vaishali Shadangule unveiled her F/W 2025 collection, she stepped outside the traditional fashion calendar — and into a space that felt more like a reverie than a runway. The venue? The stately Parisian residence of the Indian Ambassador to France and Monaco Sanjeev Kumar Singla — a regal fusion of heritage and elegance, much like the designer’s own work.

But it wasn’t just the setting that turned heads — it was her muse. This season, Shadangule channeled Kintsugi, the ancient Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold, turning cracks into veins of splendour. Yet rather than ceramics, she looked to the sea — to fractured seashells, tossed and tumbled by time and tide, each one bearing scars of survival.

“I didn’t want to recreate breakage — I wanted to honour it,” she explained. “The shells inspired me with their raw edges and shimmering imperfections. It’s about embracing what life reshapes, not erases.”

This narrative coursed through every silhouette — with handwoven Indian fabrics draped into ethereal forms, corsetry peeking through like hidden strength beneath softness. Some garments appeared to stop mid-thought, their abrupt shapes mirroring cracked shells — yet within those ‘flaws’ shimmered complexity, reinvention, and quiet resilience. A poetic paradox: structured and fluid, broken yet whole.

“All my textiles are still handcrafted by Indian artisans,” Vaishali said. “But this time, I introduced contrast — a dialogue between the rigid and the free, like the tension between ocean and shell. Where something ends, something else begins.”

In that philosophy lies her deeper message: there is grace in fracture, and beauty in what endures beyond perfection.

Paris — fashion’s eternal capital — once again offered Shadangule a luminous global stage. “Every show here brings a surge in interest, especially from France, the Middle East, and both U.S. coasts,” she noted.

The choice of venue wasn’t incidental, either. “To show in the Indian ambassador’s residence — a space steeped in Indian spirit but French soul — was incredibly meaningful,” she shared. “With support from India’s Ministry of Textiles and DC Handloom, it felt deeply personal. Warm, welcoming — it’s like a second home now.”

From her flagship boutique on Boulevard Saint Germain to a growing global clientele, Shadangule continues to bridge the delicate artistry of Indian handloom with the sharp edge of contemporary couture. Her guest list underscored that impact:  According to the designer, Benedicte Epinay (President, Comité Colbert), Alessandro Valenti (CEO, Givenchy), Siddharth Shukla (CEO, Lanvin), Eric Blanchi (Creative Director, Goyard), and top decision-makers from Printemps, Galeries Lafayette, Tranoï, Première Vision, Fédération Française de la Couture and Saks Fifth Avenue along with the French high society and diplomats attended the showing.

With a prêt-à-porter line launching this September, Vaishali Shadangule is poised to expand even further — weaving together threads of tradition, reinvention, and a philosophy that finds luxury not in flawlessness, but in transformation.