Tanishq Mudkavi

This week we have challenged fashion designer and stylist Tanishq Mudkavi to choose 11 items that represents her and her life in the past, present and future!

One item that represents your childhood: A glass of lemonade “Lemonade or Shikanji (in India) was an everyday feature on the dining table as I entered the house from a long day at school during the hot summer months. This was not only my mother’s way of pampering us kids but also her knowledge of its benefits. She made sure her kids were not dehydrated and it kept our body cool during the heat waves. Even now whenever I have it, I instantly have pleasant flashbacks of those childhood days. This in turn taught me that a simple gesture that may go unnoticed otherwise may have love as well as benefits towards our day-to-day life.”

One item that represents your nationality: A Saree “I think as an Indian woman, I have come to realize how much our simple off the loom garment, a saree is of such importance not only in our culture in India but globally as well. I remember an instance, during my college days in Florence, Italy during a history of clothing class, my teacher, a wonderful Italian lady told me she has bought chiffon sarees from India and would love for me to show the entire class how to drape one. The next day, there was a full attendance, cameras out and I was draping a saree for a class of international designers who were so interested in this simple garment. The Saree describes Indian nationality in a wonderful way, simple, versatile and adaptable.”

One item that represents your biggest passion: A sewing needle “My biggest passion in life is to create things, be it garments, content, or any other thing which would contribute towards something or someone. This small yet powerful object is what symbolically and practically keeps me going. The things in life that I want to create are to be made for everyone, that anyone of any shape, size, colour can wear. Just like a sewing needle can be used by anyone. It is the most commonly found item in any household. This small thing, a sewing needle creates such big things and I want to be exactly like that.”

One item that represents your highest ambition in life: A tree “As a person, I want to be able to give or provide for someone or something in a constructive and productive way, I don’t know how or why but that is the biggest ambition of my life. Just like a tree, at any stage in its lifetime, it gives back something or the other, fruits, oxygen, shade, and even after the end of its life it has the capacity to give back. I read a quote once that said – “you haven’t lived your life to its full capacity until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” It can be one single person, one single cause, or the plurals of these, the number doesn’t matter, I just want to be capable enough to contribute in a positive way.”

One item that represents your current mood: A face mask “It’s safe to say that somewhere this item describes all our current moods lately. To be safe, and in turn, keep others safe. Symbolically speaking as well, I feel my mood lately is to really take care of myself and others around me. This year has really made me realize how important it is to do that. Pampering and taking care of myself physically and mentally is something I didn’t do before but now I really focus on it, and I have seen how much it has helped me in a positive way and has ensured that I can then take care of people around me. Just like how during these covid times we wear a mask to keep ourselves safe first and then, in turn, keep the others safe.”

One item that represents your favourite person: My blanket

“My grandmother got me this wonderful blanket a couple of years ago. She was my favourite person and a role model. She was very independent, career and family-focused, and had a passion to do better each day in every aspect of life. She has taught me a lot, from saving and investing money, to being an independent yet family-oriented woman, and the most important thing she taught me was to be a fearless woman who can take on anything. After she passed away, that blanket has become a possession that reminds me of her warm hugs and gives a similar comfort like how it was to put my head in her lap and suddenly it would make everything okay.”

One item that represents my style: A beige turtleneck “It’s versatile yet simple. Understated yet can become a statement. It’s a piece of garment you can wear in any scenario and it’s apt. I like my sense of style to be all these things, why should your style have one singular definition when it can be so many things? I feel as a fashion designer and stylist I find freedom in expression, and when we define our style or limit it we limit our creativity to express our own selves. Be simple but be experimental. Just like a beige turtleneck, dress yourself up or down, be simple or accessorize yourself, be free.”

One item that represents your greatest fear: A clock “As cliché as it may sound, my biggest fear is running out of time. I mean this in a very positive way, I love life, I want to be able to do so much because I am so grateful to be alive. I have a great passion for stargazing, and every time I do so I realize how fortunate I am to be able to be here and the capacity I have to innovate and discover in this vast universe of things and people. Just like a clock keeps making small ticks to move forward each day I want to do the same, just keep going, keep refreshing my batteries, and stay on my toes.”

One item that represents your profession: A pen “Fashion designing has so many aspects to it. This profession is not limited to just one certain job or task; trend forecasting, creating garments, designing, blogging, there are endless things we can create and do. Similar to the use of a pen, we can never limit the task that a pen has, it can write an essay, draw a portrait, it delivers to its clients need and that is exactly what I and fashion designers generally do.” One item that represents the past year: A traffic light “This year, 2020, got us all to a halt. We were forced to stop and wait. Just like at a red light. We saw life pass by day by day and we were just there standing still. Retrospecting meanwhile, doing things we wanted to do or never wanted to do. Personally for me this year, the waiting for normal life to resume made me realize how grateful I am for the life I have, for my family, friends, my career, and mainly just to be alive. I have a newfound respect for life. As unfortunate as this time has been for many, somewhere we all needed to stop and look around, look back, and then move ahead in life. I would wish for it to be a much nicer way to halt than a global pandemic but I guess we all can pick some positivity from the unfortunate situation. I guess, from red to hopefully a green light soon is what we can see coming.”

One item that represents you: A book

“Just like we say don’t judge a book by its cover, I feel the same applies to me, in fact to most of us. Every time we read a book, we learn new things. There are always new learnings, new findings, every chapter unveils something worth knowing that adds to the story of that book. The more you read the more you discover. Some may like the book some may not, but the author has put in his best effort to write each chapter in a way that someone may find something worth their while. As grateful as I am to my parents I feel I have also as a young woman raised myself up. I have very carefully added things to my personality; I know who I am and what is within me. In each walk of life, I have learned things through experiences and added something of value to myself. The more you get to know me, the more you read me the more you will discover.”