00:00Last few moments before Paris Fashion Week and the dress was in the same state as
00:03Mumbai right now. That's Isha Khanna, a 20-year-old from Mumbai who just made her
00:08Paris Fashion Week debut. There are designers who never get to do it. So it is definitely like
00:15a big deal. It was something she had been working towards for over a year after being selected among
00:20a group of young designers to showcase her work in Paris. Even when I dress up, it's like I love
00:24standing out and that's what I want my garment to do. So that happened with people. A lot of
00:29people were intrigued like why are there zips, why are there lips. Tell us a little bit about your
00:34design, your inspiration for the dress. I wanted to give a voice to the body and I also used zippers
00:42which was a crucial element of the design where zips are often used to cover yourself up and I
00:47wanted them to be a medium of allowing the wearer to expose themselves wherever they want. So it's like
00:53the power is in my hands no matter what you say and if you keep talking I'm just gonna like
00:58shut you up.
00:58And that idea comes from her own lived experience of growing up as a young woman in India navigating
01:03independence but also constant expectations. I'm a single child I come from Chandigarh and that's
01:09just I've been raised very independently but one thing that was always like had me behind was
01:15butt dressed appropriately. So while the runway looked glamorous what led up to it was far from it.
01:21It's 5am and it's show day. Today is the day my garment walks on Paris fashion week. I'm so chill.
01:28To only a few moments later and I've cried at Paris fashion week. Like I go on an international
01:34platform and I am just crying and I've had such a like panic attack or breakdown and it was very
01:40ironic because I was telling everybody to chill. But once she returned from the fashion capital the
01:44buzz wasn't just online. I didn't go to university for a week because I was super exhausted and the one
01:49day I
01:49go it's like everyone's just like oh my god oh my god. If there's one thing she wants other young
01:54girls to take away from her journey it's this. There's always a way just like push through it
01:59and don't sacrifice your identity for anything.
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