Fashion and Philanthropy
Set to show her eye-catching designs at the Club this month, fashion creator Bina Modi explains her charitable approach to business.
As Bina Modi walked to her car outside her home near New Delhi, India, some 20 years ago, she noticed a man desperately attempting to hawk a bundle of fabrics to passersby.
“In India, you don’t stop for anybody,” says Modi, sitting in one of the Club’s meeting rooms. “But I stopped him and I said, ‘What is it that you have in that bundle?’ So he said, ‘I have these eight saris I want to sell and I am really desperate for money.’ So I said, ‘Come into my house. Let’s see what you have.’”
Not only did Modi buy his saris, she also gave him a job producing her own designs. That was the beginning of Bina Fashions, and today Modi is one of India’s foremost fashion designers. She brings her unique creations to the Club this month for a fashion expo, co-sponsored by the Women’s Group.
“I have been having shows [in Tokyo] now for 10 years, so you always have to deliver something different,” says Modi, adding that Japan and Hong Kong are her top markets. “The same format, the same embroidery, but with something new, with a different twist. That is the biggest challenge.”
Modi married future tobacco magnate Krishan Kumar Modi in 1961 after graduating from boarding school at the age of 16, where she was taught needlework by German nuns. Modi’s role at home, which was shared by a large extended family, was limited. It was forbidden for a woman of her social standing to earn a salary. To pass the time, she embroidered garments for the Modi children.
The day she met the stranger on the street proved a turning point. She decided to start a business whose profits would go back to the workers. Modi would never pocket a dime.
“I knew I could do it. I had the confidence. The only reason [my family] let me do it was because I was rehabilitating the poor,” says the mother of three. “I had so many people watching me in my family for me to fail. I couldn’t afford that. For my ego I couldn’t afford it. I had to prove that I could do the job just as well as a man.”
Today, Bina Fashions employs around 400 people. Modi covers the full cost of her employees’ medical bills and children’s education and even provides employment to family members.
Member Alok Rakyan, who organized the upcoming event at the Club, says Modi’s ability to succeed in such a male-dominated society makes her achievements even more inspirational. He describes her as a multitalented “entrepreneur who has also managed her home, who has managed successful businesses and who follows her passion.”
For her designs, Modi revived the elaborate but painstaking gara embroidery techniques. This ancient art often features highly detailed, nature-inspired motifs. Typically, between four and six gara artisans work on one loom, and one square-inch contains about 1,000 stitches. The labor-intensive style died out in the 20th century with the advent of machines.
With the help of skilled craftsmen, Bina resurrected the forgotten embroideries and introduced a modern twist, producing white or brightly colored gara jackets and shirts.
Modi has not restricted herself to philanthropic fashion, though. She founded a chain of high-end restaurants and has dabbled in the beauty and travel industries. But Bina Fashions is her first love. She has presented her designs in more than 40 countries, including at shows at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Saatchi Gallery in London.
“I get inspiration from something I see,” says Modi. “If I am in Portobello [Market in London] or if I’m in an antique market in China, a small piece of fabric will inspire me and I will create a whole story around it.”
Designer Bina Modi’s Couture Event
Trunk Show
Sunday, May 10
10:30 a.m.–6:30 p.m.
Brooklyn rooms
Monday, May 11
10:30 a.m.–6:30 p.m.
CHOP Steakhouse
Bina Modi Morning Talk Show
Monday, May 11
10:30 a.m.–12 p.m.
CHOP Steakhouse
Free
Open to the public
No sign-up necessary
Words: Nick Narigon
Photos: Kayo Yamawaki
