Dori and you | Hitha Chandrashekar
Dori and you | Hitha Chandrashekar
Hitha has been an ally to us for a couple of years now but I only got to meet her just recently and I can guarantee, she really is the sunshine that shines through the photos here. Hitha is an actor, dancer and so much more. Daughter of the loveliest couple who have made a huge mark in TV and theatre, Hitha has been carving her own mark for years now.
I first reached out to her couple of years ago to share some of our designs that she could use as a part of her wardrobe and she surprised us by also wearing the dress to an award show. That came as a pleasant surprise to us. We have always seen the most elaborate dresses being worn on the red carpets and shows, I absolutely adored the fact that Hitha chose to wear a handwoven dress in the midst of all the glitz. It also brought in awareness of my own conditioning of how I look at the clothes I make and the possibilities when you have an ally like Hitha.
When we met, it was like meeting an old friend. She is effortless in front of the camera and behind it. We had a long chat about personal style. She shared her memories of her mother styling and dressing her like Karisma Kapoor from Dil toh pagal hai, the influence movies had growing up and how it has become a part of her life. It is always fascinating to know the root of how someones childhood affects their personal style. We are all carrying stories of our experiences through what we wear, whether we realise it or not.
My takeaway from the meeting was her clarity with what she wanted and how she is unapologetically herself. She shared the lessons she had to learn that comes with being very vocal on social media, how we need to adapt and make it our own.We at Dori tend to talk about new releases and then go a little quiet. I guess we do get overwhelmed with all the demand for creating new content consistently. This conversation with Hitha resonated like Austin Kleon's book that had made a huge dent in how I personally perceive social media and this has really made me rethink how I would like to engage with it.
Running a small business can be very isolating especially if you do not run a physical store. But having friends like Hitha and so many others who are always open to supporting handwovens and artisans brightens our day!
We hope this is only the beginning of a long friendship.
A special shout out to Arvind for the gorgeous pictures. So happy to be getting back to the blogging space again!
You can buy the dress here - Dori
Photographs by Arvind Sridhar
