Payal Singhal & Shibani Dandekar
This week I am doing a throwback to a designer/friend who was the first ever designer to dress me as my foray into the entertainment world began!
Shibani Dandekar
About 10 years ago in New York I began working as a TV anchor and afraid that I would have to wear jeans and a t-shirt for every episode. I approached the designer that was dressing the other anchor on the clothes! After calling her incessantly and being invited to her house, little did know that 10 years later Payal Singhal would become one of my closest friends. I remember she handed me a bag of options without even knowing me …as a designer her support for my career has been the same ever since! She is someone that has always encouraged me to follow my dream and has been full of kind words along the way!
When we both moved to India she gave me the opportunity of walking as a showstopper for fashion week not once but 4 times! I have also shot for her catalog about 5 times and I realized along the way that wearing a designer’s pieces isn ‘t just about promotion for the designer or an artist looking her best, it is a mutual support of each others work and that is something that Payal and I have always had!
Shibani Dandekar
It goes without saying that her line is every bit as fabulous as she is chic ! Well embellished, beautiful colors and very New York meets Mumbai which is something I have always been a fan of! Every time I am dressed in Payal Singhal I spend half the night doing the rounds, answering questions and telling people where I got my outfit from! That’s the magic that she brings!
The Dandekar sisters with Payal Singhal
Payal has made me feel like her muse and that’s the greatest compliment any artist could have! Even today when I wear her pieces I think back to the days where the scruffy young girl just trying to make it in a big bad city showed up on her doorstep … Payal’s act of kindness that followed is something that I will never forget and even though I LOVE her clothes, I love her just as much haha!!
Twitter love: @shibanidandekar
Posted on MissMalini.