Reportage – 2007

Catwalk dawns for Tibetans

From left, Tsering Chungtak, Kelsang Tsomo and Choenyi, walking the ramp after presenting Tsomo's fashion show in Bylakuppe during the second night of Losar, the Tibetan New Year 2134. [ click here for print size   3.2M ]

BYLAKUPPE, India, 22 February 2007 — “Catwalk” may not be such a rare phenomenon for Tibetans anymore! Kelsang Tsomo, a Bangalore based fashion designer and image consultant, is one more rising star on the horizon of the Tibetan fashion world.

Fashion designing as a career evolved through her experiences while travelling, and her love of glamour and colours further pushed her into the career, while her inborn talent of drawing and sketching helped mould her profession.

“When I look at Madonna and Jennifer Lopez, I get – Why can’t I?” Tsomo says. She wants to be an alpha female – physically perfect, be able to influence, inscrutable, shrewd, intelligent and high achiever. She also calls herself a rising phoenix.

Fashion is about the desire for a change and who we want to be. The average decision of fashion is communicating and reflecting the complex levels of who we are.

Defining image, she says it consists of a variety of factors including clothing, grooming, tone of voice, vocabulary, facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, and social behaviour or etiquette.

Her very first show that she choreographed presenting her first solo work was amazingly promising. The show was held during Losar, the Tibetan New Year celebration at Bylakuppe as a part of the concert organised by Gonpo Entertainment, in which she presented her contemporary Tibetan fashion line with the help of some 20 young Tibetan college students of both sexes.

The embroidered blouses for women worn underneath Chupa, Tibetan women’s dress, and traditional men’s shirts with innovative designs were eyebrow-raiser items.

The shirts with traditional Tibetan drawings were similarly worth noticing. The evening gown collection clearly reflected the yardstick of her skills and professionalism.

Giorgio Armani is Tsomo’s favourite designer and his story – rising from a buyer for a department store to build a fashion empire whose name is plastered relentlessly in every street in the world – inspires her.

She is a second generation Tibetan born and raised in a typical exile Tibetan settlement of Kollegal Village near Mysore, moved to Shimla for two years to complete her schooling and graduated from Mysore College with a BA degree.

Charity was in the cards for a number of years. Right after college she helped many poor and needy people from her settlement in the field of education and health.

Fashion is not just a passion and a career for her. “I want to bring Tibet out there,” she says. “The beauty and the exotic Tibetan culture could help tell people about Tibet.” People will also understand that Tibetans are not just a spiritual lot but that Tibetans are talented and have a breathing culture.

Yuppies and urbanite Tibetans will be her target. Apart from her fashion productions, she plans to venture into providing bridal sets, jewellery designing and other accessories. “Challenges”, she says, “would be in the quality of the productions.” “It is hard to produce what you have on mind. India is a hard place to get good finished products.”

Her words for the young Tibetans: “I see a lot of young Tibetans putting on nice clothes, but what they lack is to raise their heads. Fashion is not just about the clothes, there is also a sense of pride and confidence that is also important. They have to get over the unnecessary shyness and paranoia.”

The first show, which was a learning process, was prepared barely in a month after completing her training from Anna Singh in Bombay. Opening a boutique in Bangalore is in the cards for her now.

“Designed and made by Tibetans” proudly labelled on each piece created by Tsomo’s house of fashion will bring a new taste for Tibetan fashion and contemporary life and culture.