Padma Saldon’s Ladakhi designs shine at India Art Fair

At the India Art Fair 2025, the exhibition Indigenous Fashion Futures: A Living Archive, curated by Sreyansi Singh, highlights how contemporary fashion serves as a vessel for ancestral traditions. One of the most compelling showcases is by designer Padma Saldon, whose work seamlessly weaves Ladakh’s heritage into modern silhouettes.

For Saldon, clothing is more than fabric and thread—it is a living archive of myths, memories, and resistance. "Peoples’ memories, histories of forgotten gods, myths of the land, and everyday rituals are carried through what the body wears," she shares. Through her designs, she reimagines traditional Ladakhi garments while honouring the land and the hands that craft them.

One of her standout pieces, LHA, fuses a traditional Ladakhi Kos with a Bok, which drapes gracefully over the shoulder. The Bok is adorned with a sacred Buddhist mandala, representing the cycle of life and impermanence. Flowing silk threads mimic the rhythm of the Cham dance, while the Ladakhi Cham mask adds spiritual resonance.

Another piece, the Logor Dress, transforms the traditional Bok cloak into a modern wrap-around pencil silhouette. It is made from handspun, handwoven Nambu wool from Ladakh, layered with emerald green and indigo T-lens fabric, and features Sul-inspired gathers at the waist. The floor-length braids, crafted from Nambu wool yarn, add movement and storytelling to the garment.

The Lamo ensemble is equally rich in symbolism. A pink floor-length tunic with an A-line shape is lined with yellow fabric featuring sun and moon motifs in gold and silver dabka work, inspired by Thangka paintings. These celestial elements represent the union of opposites—active and passive forces leading to balance and harmony. The tunic is layered under a luxurious sheep wool jacket with fan sleeves, woven from handspun Nambu wool and gathered at the shoulders using the Sul technique.

Saldon’s approach extends beyond fashion—it is a deep-rooted collaboration with local shepherding communities and weavers in Phyang Village. “The research and development is situated beyond systematic fashion ateliers, instead at homes and fields while people sing and sow,” she explains.

She incorporates indigenous crafts like Nambu wool weaving, Thigma resist-dyeing, and Pangden weaving, ensuring that these techniques are not merely preserved but continue to thrive in contemporary fashion. "This contemporary indigenous clothes-making issues a new political power and social collectivism, harnessing legacies of generational knowledge and resilience to create new systems of innovation," Saldon reflects.

Rather than museumizing indigenous attire, Saldon’s work frames these traditions as living, breathing, and evolving forms of identity, protest, and sustenance. Her designs stand as both a tribute to the past and a blueprint for the future—where heritage and innovation walk hand in hand.