Becoming Label Earthen
The timeless magic of clothing in the age of trends
We are born without choosing to, to parents we haven’t chosen, into bodies and borders we haven’t chosen, to exist in a region of spacetime we haven’t chosen for a duration we don’t choose. As physicists know, we don’t choose the particular atoms that constellate our particular selves or the neural configurations that fire our consciousness. In consequence, we don’t even choose whom we love.
But amid our slender repertoire of agency are the labels we choose for our labours of love — the works of thought and tenderness we make with the whole of who we are.
Storytelling Via Clothes
Label Earthen was born with the idea of telling sartorial stories that help consumers find clothing that is comfortable, modern and rooted in tradition. It’s the essence of everyday India — an evolving record and ongoing celebration of self-expression, timelessness and handcrafted aesthetics — everything that serves as a reminder of our roots, remains relevant for many years down the line and that makes you feel most alive.
Over the years, I evolved and evolved with the clothing I create. I filled the universe of Label Earthen with my reflections on the timelessness of clothing — and the most important things I was learning about it along the way, often through the journey, often from people and ideas that have informed our culture. Like Rekha for instance, one of the most timeless style icons we know.
For half a century, Rekha has consistently offered something that very few of her peers can boast: an unmistakable signature style. From the 1970s to the present day, you’ll discover the enduring presence of this icon, confidently displaying a refined sartorial palette that remains unaffected by passing fads and momentary trends. Infused with hints of eccentricity but always staying grounded in reality, she stands as an icon whose style maintains its relevance even today.
What Makes Us Timeless?
In the margins of trends, in the margins of life, as commonly conceived by our culture’s inherited parameters of possibility, I have worked out and continue working out what Label Earthen is and what it wished to be — an inquiry into the ultimate question: What makes clothing timeless and how can we defy trends?
The answers are often contemplative, full integration of thought and feeling that pulsate beneath all things creative and classic. This is always, at the bottom, a discourse with oneself: me with myself, in creating the clothes; you with yourself, in wearing them. I bring to Label Earthen the whole of who I am, projecting onto it every experience I have ever had and every unanswered question reverberating through the deepest chambers of my being. If it is worthy and if I am lucky, the clothing reflects me back to myself magnified yet transformed, luminous with possibility, more alive, more awake. Better able to see how the clothing shimmers with meaning. Better able to see myself as the maker of it, whether I call it love or art.