Dwaipayan Payne, NIFTian, a self passioned Kolkata guy, born and brought up in the city itself. He has specialized himself in fashion designing conducting a number of fashion shows contributing his own design. Covering a lot of fashion shows, working as an assisstant stylist under India’s one of the most famous fashion designers, Soumya Nandi, and presently working with Balaji Productions as their stylist, this boy is breaking barriers and is yet to create records.
Something different something people might not accept, but he has his own way of presenting it to the mass and will always do.
Will power is something which carries him on in his career allowing him to bloom in his career. He has also worked under Dulce Celia Design House as an assistant designer, and conducted fashion shows in collaboration with ICCR and Micromax. Let’s have Dwaipayan in talks with us.
In Conversation with Dwaipayan
Tell us about your educational background !
Belonging to a middle class Bengali family my guardians wanted me to take up science against my wishes and I did that and being not so good at it I somehow getting mocked by my classmates and my teachers, did my 10+2 from Aditya Academy Senior Secondary School and passed with average marks.
What sparked your interest in fashion? When did you know you wanted to be a fashion designer?
To be honest, though it might sound like a made up answer I was always interested in getting dressed well and it came naturally to me. I never read fashion magazines or followed fashion shows but somewhere I just had a thing for “Good Clothes”. When I was in 10th standard in my school, I came up with this idea of Fashion Shows to be included in our annual function, I auditioned but I failed. That’s when it hit me and till the next year I practiced how to walk, perfected it and Bam! I got selected the next year. That was my boost. Then I did a small course on fashion choreography under an eminent designer from Kolkata and that’s how it started. That’s when I realized I wanted to be in this Industry.
Whom do you consider as a role model?
Well I need to think about it actually. I don’t have any ‘one’ who I can mention. I have many who have inspired me through different turns while I pursued what I am doing.
If not fashion designing, what would you have chosen as your next career option? Why?
I always wanted to be an Actor as I was into theatres and drama. I have been very active in school doing that. So I guess, if not fashion I would have been somewhere struggling to be an actor.
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Are you looking forward for your own brand or so? How long do you think you will take to establish your brand?
Every designer has got a dream to start up a brand or a design house and I am no different. I can’t wait to start working for it but obviously it’s going to take time, another 10 years or maybe a little sooner. “Hoping, Wishing, Everything”.
What role did your family play in choosing your career option and how much support did you receive from them in the same?
Ok! The answer might sound really nasty but I just want to say things happen for good. Well initially they never supported me. I was on my own making decisions and choosing between options. They completely refused to support me. Fights and turmoils inside my house was a daily thing. They wanted me to follow the herd and become an Engineer. But I had my way and I earned their support. There was only one person who supported me and that was my Sister Saranika Payne. But my fights with my family made me more confident and firm about what I wanted to do and so I believe it has helped and it happened for good.
Could you share with us a few achievements of yours?
Well I just stepped in the industry still trembling. My first ever work was designing unconventional materials in form of wearables, and the fashion show was hosted by Arts Forward by Paromita Saha in collaboration with ICCR and Micromax. The topic was Eco-Boom, and the students who walked the stage were from Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata. Then I designed for and choreographed a group of students from Ceramic Technology College. By that time I was done with First year of college and we had 2.5 months of session break. I had no intention of sitting back home so I applied for an internship and I got hired by Dulce Celia Design House as an assistant fashion designer and it was even better because my company only hired graduated students that also from Nift Delhi. So I was really happy being the odd one out. It went really well. I also worked for a short film “Kamalini” as a costume designer for Red Matrix Productions. After that it was a long pause. May 2017 I saw a random status update from one of the very known fashion designer in Kolkata now, Soumya Nandi; he required an assistant stylist for an upcoming project I blindly seeked him and all thanks to him he hired me. It was the biggest break of my career till now, and I started working with Balaji Productions as an assistant stylist. It was a great experience. As of now I am working on my own collection and photo shoots and designing garments for different photo shoots as different photographers approach me. I recently set looks and garments for another web series by Red Matrix Productions named ‘Kaleidoscope’.That’s all I have in my plate right now. I hope to do better.
How do you practice, produce and distribute your designs ?
We all know how socially active everyone is, that’s how I distribute my designs and uplift them and about the production as I am still in college, we have the means to make garments as well as I have machines at home.
What are you looking forward to in the near future?
India has a very big fashion industry and it has got so much potential and I want to contribute to it. Something different something people don’t accept but I always had a way and I will always do.
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