DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT
FROM EARLY ON, HER
ARCHAEOLOGIST FATHER, PROF. V
H SONAWANE, INTRODUCED HER
TO ART, ARCHITECTURE, THEATRE,
AND TECHNOLOGY.
EARLY YEARS
Vaibbhavi’s background is probably responsible
for her aim to promote slow, sustainable fashion.
She was born in Vadodara, and from early on,
her distinguished archaeologist father, Prof. V H
Sonawane, introduced her to art, architecture,
theatre, and technology. Her inclination towards
clothing and textiles was honed at The Maharaja
Sayajirao University of Baroda, where her
master’s dissertation project on functional
design solutions to secondary schoolgirls, led
her to work in the area of institutional uniforms
for schools and corporates. This involved real-
time project proposals, analysis, viable design
solutions, feasibility testing, and presentations to
all stakeholders, beyond the users.
Vaibbhavi then pushed
her education limits by
obtaining a PhD in 2018 with
her doctoral research on ‘A
Semiotic Study of the Indian
Sari’, in which she traced
the 3,000-year-old history
of the sari and its various
forms. The study focused
on the sari as a means of
nonverbal communication,
its significance in the
contemporary fashion
scenario, as well as its
changing narratives.
APPAREL
I
June 2019
I
87