Having arrived from India much later than those who are traditionally celebrated on Indian Arrival Day, local clothing designer Charu Lochan Dass enjoys merging Indian and western fashion, creating colourful yet elegant garments for women.
Born in India, she came to Trinidad and Tobago with her mother, Satya, in 1987 at age six. Satya eventually married her father, Radhay Lochan Dass of Williamsville, who legally adopted her and gave her “the best of everything.”
Lochan Dass often visits India to see her maternal relatives as well as to purchase fabric and accessories.
[caption id="attachment_1018364" align="alignnone" width="683"] Charu Lochan Dass, right, with her mother Satya, after whom her Satya collection is named. -[/caption]
“I am a Trini to the bone but there is definitely that cultural influence on my life and my work. I do Indo-western wear and those collections are a huge hit. That influence is my upbringing here as well as my cultural and family ties in India which also shaped me.”
She speaks Hindi fluently, is a Vedic Hindu and so practices hawan or havan (puja), is a huge Bollywood fan and listens to traditional Indian music.
Asked about the cultural differences between Delhi, where she is from, and TT, she noted the original Indians who came to TT were from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal. And since India is such a large country, different states have cultural differences.
She said in TT, Hindus take the religion much more seriously than most of those in Delhi. For example, in Dehli, the Divali season is more like Christmas with drinking, partying and card parties where there is gambling.
She said the seasonings, spices and curries used in the food are different, even though doubles is similar to India’s chole bhature – channa masala and a fried bread.
“Even the Indian-wear that we (East Indians) wear is not the typical thing Trinidadians would wear. Our styling is different. But I merge them to create the Indo-western look. I use Indian fabric, laces, borders, handwork and such, but the cuts and the silhouettes of my garments are a bit more western. And it’s a huge hit. People love it.”
[caption id="attachment_1018368" align="alignnone" width="683"] From the Satya collection. -[/caption]
Lochan Dass said the first time she designed anything was when she was 14 or 15 years old. She had asked her mother for a table runner which she thought would look great as a waistcoat. She took it to a nearby seamstress and gave her design instructions to make it. She also recalled walking into all the fabric stores on High Street in San Fernando after attending Saturday lessons at Presentation College. She would look at and feel them and just imagine what they could become.
“I would just look at the fabrics and envision what I could make with them. Now my mind is just blown when I think about it because, at that time, it’s not like I was buying fabrics to take to seamstresses or anything like that. Everything I wore was imported clothing. It made me realise this was meant to be. I just d
