#310 Stop Calling It "Boho Chic"

Ravia sits down with Edmonton designer Suvi Sharma to trace how her nani’s (maternal grandmother's) underpaid embroidery work for luxury houses shapes her brand Silver's Wind's mission today. We talk identity, confidence, and what it looks like to build a modern fashion brand that gives credit, names makers, and pushes back on cultural erasure. 

• Suvi’s nani as the core inspiration and a window into artisan labour behind luxury fashion 
• Moving from India to Canada and holding onto Indian-ness in public style 
• Family mindset as the source of confidence and creative risk-taking 
• Leaving corporate marketing and starting SilversWind as a jewellery brand 
• The pivot into clothing that blends Indian silhouettes with everyday wear 
• Why “boho chic” can hide copying and a colonial lens in fashion 
• Launch results, global buyers, and the demand for culturally aware design 
• Cultural appreciation versus appropriation and how credit changes everything 
• Supply chain choices, knowing makers by name, and what accountability looks like 

Give us a follow @TheUniversalRadio across socials. Tune in from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. every day at 97.9 FM in the Edmonton area, or live stream us at www.theuniversalradio.com. 

IG: @theuniversalradio

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Suvi Sharma

SPEAKER_01 0:04

I am Ravia and you are listening to the Universal Radio Network's Turn It Up podcast. And today I get to sit down with Suvi Sharma, a local Edmontonian fashion designer, whose familial roots and frustration with the colonial lens within the fashion industry inspired her to start her own fashion line. Stay with us for this rich conversation. My name is Ravia, and I have the great pleasure of sitting down with Suvi Sharma, who is a designer, a businesswoman, and lives locally in Edmonton and holds it down for the fashion girlies right here in the capital city. Hi, Suvi. Hi. Oh my gosh, that was such a sweet intro. Thank you for that. It's it's absolutely a pleasure. I have been following you online for a while, and we actually met for the first time at the Diljeet concert, which was such a beautiful experience. I miss it already. I know, right? I feel like everyone that was there felt like it was a moment for the community. We were all like, oh my God, this is real. This is really happening. We're like, yeah, that was like what a great place for us to meet, like among the South Asians in Edmonton and like partying it up, dancing a lot. And but like, that's not what I'm here to talk to you about today. I want to hear about Silver's Wind, how you started it, where it came from.

A Grandmother’s Unseen Labour

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Before that, like before we get into Silver's Wind, I want to ask you, what is your motivation to do work like this?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

That's a beautiful question. And honestly, everything comes down to my non-niece on my grandma and my mom's side. She was an embroiderer for some of the biggest luxury houses in the world, but she was based in India at the time. And while she was living, she would embroider for the biggest houses in the world, but be paid cents an hour. And she was integral to these big brands, and she was integral, and her and her, all of her friends were so important to what luxury brands show you and the work that they put out. But in fact, she, despite being so important, she wasn't paid like it, and she wasn't treated like it. And nor are the actual artisans that are sitting in India that are doing the work, but we're more ghostwriters than the actual the brands ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Ghostwriters for the brands themselves, but also one of the like the most important parts of those brands. They're physically beating, embroidering like every single stitch of that brand. Yeah. That is your inspiration, is your nani? Tell me more about her. Yes. Did you did you meet her? Did you grow up with her?

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Yeah, oh, definitely. So my first 10 years of life, I lived in India. I was born in India. Um, and she was the most beautiful woman that I've ever seen in my life, honestly, inside and outside. She was so talented. And later in her life, she transitioned from embroidery for factories to embroidery, teaching young girls how to sew and teaching them how to, you know, gain these beautiful skills that could allow them to earn an income, regardless of it being not a lot of income, but still being able to income and it's something to have for themselves as young women, even in that era in that time. Um, and just her as a person, everything she was, everything that she was so fashionable as well. And she was truly ahead of her time. And I just feel like anytime that someone asks me, What, you know, why are you doing this, what motivates you? Of course, there are a million reasons I could go into every single problem that I see within the fashion industry, that I lived within the fashion industry, but despite it all, I go back to my nanny and she truly she was a beast.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

I was I was thinking of saying some beautiful and schnauck. But she was that she was about it. Like she meant business. Is that what you meant you mean by a beast? Like she was gonna, she got, she got into it, she did her work. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

And while being sweet, she truly taught me that you don't have to be cold to be skilled. You don't have to, you can be sweet and endearing and lovely and also be good at things and be outspoken. And I just love everything about her. And yeah, so I would say my biggest inspiration and motivation is is her alongside a few other that is genuinely what a beautiful person and what a gift that you've like were able to spend so much time with her.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yes, and growing up with her. Because especially like a lot of diaspora kids, we don't get often get that. Yeah. And seeing this like impact on you is incredible. That is incredible.

Growing Up Between India And Canada

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Can I ask you where in India? Yes, Jenny Guard. In Gen the Guard. Yeah. So she was in Jen the Guard and she was make she was embroidering in Jen the Guard. And Jen the Guard is a fashion hub and architectural hub, it is the crossroads for so many places. Yes. What do you think the influence of growing up in Gen the Guard, which is quite a metropolis, like it's a city city. Yeah. And then when you first moved here when you were 10 years old, did you move to Edmonton?

SPEAKER_00 5:29

No. We moved to BC. So we actually went straight to Abbotsford. And then we moved here when I was around 15. So it's been a good 10, 11 years.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Okay, so that's quite the shock because Abbotsford is a and was a town. It's not, I don't know if it's a city, but it's a smaller city if it is. And you were going from this bustling city to a town. How did you find that?

SPEAKER_00 5:54

You know what? I actually don't remember much besides my family and spending time with my nanny, my daddy, my my grandparents in general. I don't remember much of the bustling city life because I was so focused on my family. I was looking and spending time with my mom and my dad and my family and doing things like going to the gardens or, you know, things like that. So I don't quite remember it as that bustling city that I now know it to be. Instead, I remember it to be just somewhere where my family was. That's beautiful. My whole family was. Instead, then you know, we got broken up with a little bit and we ended up in Abbotsford and now here. So that's what I remember it for. Abbotsford wasn't that much of a shock. The only shock was that my grandparents weren't there anymore.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

That's that is a shock because they are part of like the unit that's raising you. And then now you're like, where's the other parts of my unit, right? Tell me about little Suby.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Yes.

Confidence In Identity And Style

SPEAKER_00 6:53

So she was and is a very fierce girl, and she does what she wants, no matter what anyone else thinks, says, believes, does not matter to her and me, obviously. So when I was really little, maybe just freshly landed in Canada. So we were in Abbotsford at the time. I was, I want to say 11. And I was wearing my mom's bangles to school, and I was the stereotypical Indian kid, and we love them so much. I was that girl and bangles, I had my junkey, I thought I was so cool, and I was so cool. And yes, exactly. But everyone around me, you know, you're not used to things being different than what you see around you all the time, and people, it's literally in our evolution that if we see something that's different from us, it's dangerous, or it's, you know, we question it right away. But anyway, I was that girl, everyone around me would make fun of me, and I also had a unibround the time, and I had like these these markers of being Indian, but I would think they were stupid for making fun of me. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

You know, so I was always Wow, that's quite a s like a mindset shift where like you don't know what you're talking about. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

So I hear a lot of stories, and in some senses, I definitely did feel terrible in the extreme cases, but for the most part, every day when I was showing up and I was being fashionable and I was being absolutely the most authentic version of myself since birth, I would hear other people, like maybe, you know, little boys being like, ew, your hairy arms, or oh my gosh, what are those things you're wearing? You don't need that much, or little things like that. And I wouldn't even think anything differently of myself. I would think differently of him. And I would say, Are you stupid? Are you unfashionable? Are you what do you know about anything? Like I I would be the person that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Wow, that's a mindset a lot of young children, I feel like, don't have. So that's very rare. I've just never been ashamed of my Indian-ness. That's amazing. Loved it. Yeah, representing yourself authentically since you were a young one. I love that. What gave you that confidence, do you think?

SPEAKER_00 9:09

I think my dad, so I have been so fortunate to have parents where they would tell me I can be anything I want to be. It's kind of different where a lot of us and a lot of Asian parents in general say, you know, be a doctor, lawyer, engineer. Um, and that was part of my life path. Like I did want to be in law school at some at law school at some point. And I think back to that now, and I I think that would have been crazy. Like if I pursued law, I would have been great at it, I know. But I think my creative side shines a lot more. But my dad and both my parents in general have always instilled in us that whatever you do, do pick your pick, have your choice, build a career of your own, but be the best. Be the best. Outwork everyone around you. You you shouldn't be spending your evenings and weekends doing things that everyone around you is doing. You should be learning. You should be spending your time and you should be binging things on YouTube that you find interesting. You should be, you know, things like that. And whatever you choose, whether it's fashion, whether it's marketing, whether whatever it is, be the best and outwork everyone around you. And I think that that in me from such a young age gave me confidence because my skills gave me confidence. And those skills were a result of the mindset that my parents instilled in me.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

What a gift. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Truly.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Okay, let's go into how you started Silver's Wind and what brought you there.

Leaving Corporate To Start Silverswind

SPEAKER_01 10:42

First, tell us more about Silver's Wind and what it does.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Yes. So initially, about a year and a half ago, I had left my corporate marketing job in order to start a jewelry business, which is why its name is Silver's Wind. And I was really, really excited to start that. And I still am honestly astronomically more excited now than I was a year ago. But I was so excited to start that business and to design jewelry and put my jewelry creations out there because I've always been passionate about fashion, beauty, jewelry, those kinds of things I find so fun. And I knew that I wanted to spend my life creating, not so much inside an office, but I wanted to really, really, I I felt like I had lived out that Indian family dream where go get a job, go to school, corporate life. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I had done that for five, six years. So in my head, I was like, now is the time. And there is something also happened in my in my office space, which pushed me to, you know, try everything that I could in putting my hand into a business. And so I started with jewelry. And I thought that that is where I would end up. But actually now what it has turned into as of maybe the last three months. I have been fusing Indian fashion and silhouettes with kind of West the Western world. And that is, I honestly, I have never been happier in my life. In your life. I'm so excited to be here. And every day I I like boing out of bed. I get so excited to just continue my work and to design and to dress women. And it just it is, I'm truly so happy.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

What led this uh change from jewelry to clothing? What

Turning Jewelry Into Everyday Silhouettes

SPEAKER_01 12:23

what kind of made you think of that change?

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Yes. So a few problems I was noticing, and all of them started within my own kind of my wardrobe, um, my own style. But also, of course, we can't skip the elephant in the room, where I was noticing big brands um blatantly copying Indian silhouettes and marking them as their own, or marking them as boho chic, or these other markers that it's clear that they're shameful to talk about their Indian influence and where actually the silhouettes are coming from. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

But actually it does. It actually does. Yes. But because of who's marketing them, who's in those rooms, yeah, they decide to turn them into the Scandinavian scarf as we've heard it. So um, and then you were like, This is weird. I don't like this. Let me do this on my own. Exactly. And an ode to your nanny Jane away.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Yes, most beautiful. Thank you. Thank you so much. So yeah, I started to notice that as one of the problems, as one of the it, I think that that is the umbrella problem that you know we're seeing so many brands taking what's Indian and instead of because we love to share. I love to share, my fan loves to share. So many of us want to share our food, our culture, our everything that we are, but not in the way that you take it and run it and rebrand it and rename it into something that it's not. So another problem that I noticed is a lot of there's no intersection between Indian silhouettes and what we can wear every day in the West or wherever our diaspora is. I have noticed that it's either in my own closet, it's either stuff for events or things that I Indian clothes that I put on for weddings or concerts or these fun things. But then those clothes rot in my closet for eight months, nine months at a time.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Yeah, I feel that.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

I have the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Yeah, so many of us do, truly. And I noticed that I wanted to inject some of my own culture into my everyday fashion, but I just could not find the exact clothes that I wanted. And so that's when I thought to myself, I was like, this was actually supposed to be initially just for myself and my own wardrobe. And so I built some prototypes and some mock-ups and I did my sketching, and those sketches were actually sitting in my notebook for a good five, six years before I did anything about them. And so I decided to bring them to life for my own wardrobe, just for me. And then it started because I showed my sister-in-law and her mouth, her jaw was on the ground. She was like, Suey, me, babe, do something. And then I was like, oh, okay. You know, I in my eyes, it felt like this is something fun and I'm filling a space for myself. But then I posted to my audience on Instagram, and I don't know how many thousands of DMs I got about those designs and people saying, if you don't freaking release this, they were saying all kinds of things. And I was so happy to see it, but I was also equally shocked because I genuinely thought that there was a space like this. I just couldn't find a brand that was doing exactly what I wanted. But I guess that I I filled the gap that way.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Yeah, you stumbled into a gap in a way. Like you didn't even mean to fill this gap, but you're like, oh wait, this is actually solving a problem that many people are having with their closets not fitting who they want to dress as. Yes. And what they want to wear. Exactly. I've I've seen your your newest releases and they are absolutely stunning. Oh, thank you. And they feel like they're the perfect. Are you wearing the pants right now? Yes. Yeah, like they're the perfect like summer like linen set, but with the ducetta. Yeah, yeah. It's really, it's really beautiful. That is such a beautiful trajectory. And you just had your launch last week. Yes. Right? Yes. How did that go? How are you feeling after that? Oh

Launch Day Numbers And Global Demand

SPEAKER_01 16:16

my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

I I so grateful, so beyond grateful. I couldn't have ever imagined this outcome. So within a about a month of me mentioning and receiving the stamp samples and talking about them and recording, we had 30,000 women on our wait list alone. And that was aside from the people that were on Instagram actively engaged, saving our posts to come back for later. And on launch day, on sorry, pre-launch day, when I had messaged the email subscribers and mentioned, hey, you know, you get early access because you subscribe to our email. Even that, I had to go to even after that day pre-launch, I had to go to my backup factory and be like, okay, so this is happening. Day zero, we sold this many things. I need backup. And that was just that was before we even public launch. So I think that the people were waiting for something like this. And it I think what's even more beautiful is that instead of seeing so many Indian women alone shopping from us, we I also saw so many women from places like Norway, the US, um, uh Switzerland, France, Belgium, so much 21 countries total, um, shopping from shopping these designs because they were waiting for that permission, but they also didn't want to shop from brands that were ripping us off every day. And I'm noticing that my buyers are so intelligent in the sense that they are culturally aware. And if they want to expand into wearing, I mean, we drink Ethiopian coffee. We are wearing, like, I wear Brazil t-shirts sometimes. I am, you know, holding Italian leather. Like, we are already so global. And I think that Indian fashion deserves a spot in that conversation because let's be so real. Like our embroidery, our craftsmanship, our fabrics, our spices, everything about India is beautiful, incredible. So much of us has been diluted down to be fed back to the West in a way that none of us even appreciate. But anyway, I'm going on.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Well, I 100%, because even as uh like a person who studied a little bit of history on this stuff, there is a lot of like Victorian fashion that was made. Like, where does the paisley come from? It comes from South Asia, which then first came from Iran. Like there's so many trade trade routes, other things. We call them trade routes, but when we see it as what it is, it in a colonial system, it was essentially like ripping off and then sending as your own. There's so many different ways that we can talk about

Cultural Appreciation Versus Appropriation

SPEAKER_01 19:04

this. And the con in the conversation about cultural appreciation, how how have you have you received any like comments about cultural appropriation or cultural appreciation? I know that's always something that comes up in these cases.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Yes. Yes. So I've gotten an array of comments about this. And the way that I usually talk about this topic is that appropriation and appreci appreciation are such different things in the sense that appreciation involves you giving credit to where your the silhouette or whatever you're eating or whatever, if someone is asking you, you are not watering it down. You are mentioning, yes, this is by an Indian designer, this is a tupatha, this is, you know, this is exactly what it is. And I think that when people are brave enough to talk about that aspect of their clothes, their outfit, their their jewelry, their beauty routine, K beauty, our food, everything, you know, when they're brave enough to talk about that, then that's where it it starts to feel so beautiful. We're so interconnected. And it makes me genuinely so excited to envision a world where so many of us are interconnected through the different things that we're good at.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

It's about connection, right? It's about giving credit where credit's due, connecting with people and not like not discrediting people like your Nanji, who was embroidering things for major fashion houses and not getting paid. Speaking

Knowing Makers And Building A Supply Chain

SPEAKER_01 20:36

to that, I want to talk a little bit about your supply chain, not the specifics, but do you know the people making your clothes?

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Yes. I want to know more about that. Yes, definitely. So I so I have two factories at the moment. One of them is in India, and her name is the person who managed the factory, is her name is Burvi. And I have a backup factory in China because I needed the the speed in the sense that if things go crazy in this factory, this is a small factory, this is a family that I'm working with. If things go absolutely crazy, which they did, I have to also have the speed. So in the so my first absolute choice has been Budvi's factory for the longest time, and she still is my number one, and they are so ecstatic about how we're working together now. And she she is brilliant. Like absolutely brilliant. I will say she is brilliant and it's it excites me to be working with other incredibly brilliant people. I know I've seen the faces of the people who are creating the work. I've seen, I've talked to them, I've FaceTimed them multiple times. It's not, I'm very picky when it comes to exactly who and where I'm working with. And I'm just thrilled to be in a place where I know these people's names. I know that our partnership is so beautiful and powerful, and I'm just thrilled about everything and how it's all going.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Amazing. So it's a Canadian brand, but it's making an impact internationally, not just by where it's being sold, but also who is making it. Yes. Which is it's beautiful. Thank you. Awesome. I want

Where Indian Fashion Goes Next

SPEAKER_01 22:12

to know more about where you're gonna take Silver's Win. Do you have any plans?

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Oh my gosh. So many. I didn't realize the response that this launch would get. But now I'm already planning a fall collection. You know, I'm visiting a new embroidery house in India pretty soon. When are you going to Thailand as well? Oh my gosh. Yes, actually in four days. Oh, exciting. Yeah, that's perfect. So the timing is just perfect. I'm happy to be here. But I believe that Indian fashion is gonna have an entirely different name in the next 10 years. And I think that I really want to be a part of that conversation. And I want to keep designing. This is the happiest I've ever been. I want to keep designing and showing people that Indian fashion and silhouettes and everything that we're making and creating is it's not necessarily just beautiful. It's meant for you too. And you can also be a part of that conversation and part of that fashion if you're not the type to shy away from difficult conversations and shy away from things that maybe you think shouldn't be discussed. But no, they should be discussed.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

They always should. It's so interesting because um you bring up this point where people will often say like certain things aren't political. But what you're doing is very much making fat like fashion is political in this way. And who who is being paid, who is wearing it, um, where the money is flowing. And that I feel like that's a really important point that you're making, that you're not just a brand, that you're not just making this for just wearing and selling and having the biggest profit margins. You're trying to support businesses while you're on the way and create spaces for people like yourself. Yes. That is absolutely stunning. Thank you. Anything else you wanted to talk about tonight?

SPEAKER_00 24:00

Well, I'm just really excited for everything that's happening, and I'm just very grateful for the response that my designs got online, and I'm really just thrilled about everything that's happening, and I can't wait to keep designing from my perspective, from my globalized perspective, and from my very Indian perspective.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Yeah.

Where To Follow And Listen

SPEAKER_01 24:24

And where can we find you if we want to follow you?

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Yes, absolutely. So our Instagram is Silverswind. So that's S-I-L-V-E-R-S W-I-N-D on Instagram, and then silverswind, same thing.com. Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for listening to the Universal Radio. Thank you, Subi Sharma, for this interview with us at the Universal Radio Network. Give us a follow at the Universal Radio on Instagram. Tune in from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. every day at 97.9 FM in the Edmonton area, or live stream us at www.theuniversal radio.com.