“I began getting really interested in fashion when I was in college- I began wishing that I was studying fashion. That didn't happen, but when I got back home, I participated in a tailoring course organized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. A friend wanted to do a photo shoot with whatever clothes I had made, to be published in her entertainment magazine.
Suddenly after that, I started getting a lot of orders from people. That is when I realized that this was something I could actually do for a living. Soon after that, I did an entrepreneurship course with Labour ministry, and developed a business plan.
It has been such an experience after that- doing my first ever fashion show, working for SABAH Bhutan with weavers, and getting to incorporate our traditional Bhutanese textiles into my designs, and then launching my own brand, working with VOGUE India, being invited to international fashion week events, and getting to make jackets for the children of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as gifts from Her Majesty.
Sometimes I felt that things fell together to make things happen– I made plans to take a break while my son was still young. But I was still involved in projects here and there, and I felt that it was the right time to start my own design line. For me, word-of-mouth has been important in shaping how things turned out. People reached out because they had heard of or seen my previous work for some previous projects, and each time I was involved in something it eventually led to new collaborations.
This year, I have been invited during the Paris Fashion Week and New York Fashion week, and that is what I am preparing for.
My experience of the past 10 years or so has been of collaboration with so many people- models, photographers, and magazines. We have helped each other by creating opportunities to do something, and it has helped us all get recognition. Vogue, for example, used the person who modeled clothes for my very first fashion show as the show stopper- on their cover for a special edition.
I hope more of that happens– that a lot of us working in this field can find more ways to work together and achieve success together as models, publications, photographers, and weavers.“
Tshering Choden, designer and owner, CHIMMI House of Design.
Sou
Source: Yellow Bhutan