Designs that speak for a cause

Sanjana Jon sends her message to people through her designs. Get up close and personal with the person behind outfits of David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen and others. The designer expresses her designing inspiration, interests and achievements

An all-too-common confession we hear is of people being inspired by stars or well-known celebrities.

But fashion designer Sanjana Jon who was in the city recently, claims her source of inspiration right from childhood, is her grandmother.

Born in Chennai, Sanjana has fond memories of growing up years, watching her grandmother who stitched new designs with her own creativity.

Years later, she visited her brother Anand Jon in New York, where he was already working as a fashion designer. Coupled with his support and her interest in fashion,

she joined her brother as the marketing director of his line that designed men’s clothing. Together they crafted a jewellery line, which was greatly cherished by the likes of model Iman, David Bowie and Barbara Hershey.

The line supports ‘amfAR,’ a foundation that supports research for AIDS and related conditions. They then worked on a men’s collection which was highlighted by Bruce Springsteen, Backstreet Boys among others.

Sanjana smilingly says, “I feel very lucky to have a brother like Anand, who encouraged me in this field. He patiently explained to me the details of what it takes to be in this field of designing.”

With her brother’s help, she designed clothes for women too. “Although he was mostly into men’s clothing designs, Anand helped me understand designing for women,” shares Sanjana.

Her most admired first appearance was at the Cannes Film Festival, where she received support from Prince Albert of Monaco, Princess Sorayya, Princess Sara Al Saud and Princess Olivia de Borbon.

This starting point led her to her New York Fashion Week debut and later to Vancouver Fashion Week where she won the International Rising Star award.

Her themes for her works are mostly related to social causes and animal welfare. Sanjana has gone through a tough time, but her confidence and her brother’s guidance bought success in her life.

Social motivation has been the central focus of the two designers as they supported causes. She has worked on events to fight for truth and justice against racial discrimination with different models and celebrities.

She has initiated many promotional campaigns in New York and Los Angeles against racism and also organised protests against racism in Mumbai and Delhi.

She also put together a show supporting the girl child against female infanticide with 16 celebrity siblings. Recently, she showcased her works under the title ‘Sanjana Jon Creativity,’ a show at Tihar,

and a project for the inmates, by the inmates and of the inmates there. She started a productive inspired training programme to make the inmates a more artistic and progressive part of the society.

She is presently working on the pride of India, an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Record with more than 500 models walking the ramp.

Promoting traditional and cultural wear of every state in India representing the pride to every state as a celebration of the girl, Sanjana aims to support the global human rights.

The current Miss Universe Leila Lopes will be present for the show in February in support of the causes.She presently is based in New York yet constantly reminisces about her hometown.

Sanjana concludes with her tip to youngsters, “Wear what suits you the best depending on your body type and which will make you look fashionable, elegant and stylish.”

By:Chitra Saikumar