How This Sydney-Based Fashion Designer Is Bringing Bollywood Culture To Australian Wardrobes

Growing up in Sydney, Australia, fashion designer Akshaya Bhutkar didn't see much of her Indian heritage reflected in the fashion around her.

"Growing up watching Bollywood films with my family was a window into my culture filled with vivid colour, melodramatic storylines and extravagant dance numbers," Bhutkar tells Refinery29 Australia.

Wanting to capture this "hyper-reality", Bhutkar enrolled in a fashion and textiles course at the University of Technology Sydney.

"Being of Indian heritage, adorning yourself in colour, jewellery and scarfs is something that is a part of our culture — there's a different kind of appreciation for dressing yourself in bold colours that makes you feel lively and beautiful. I want my clothes to be a space where you feel an energy to be your most bright and joyous self."

Now, Bhutkar's graduate collection Sweet Escape has been worn by the likes of musicians Milan Ring and Forest Claudette, and she has been featured in Elle Indonesia, Lobster Magazine and Pinnk Magazine.

Refinery29 Australia caught up with Bhutkar to learn more about her graduate collection and what's next for the up-and-coming Sydney-based designer.

My graduate collection is a jump into the extravagant world of Bollywood and its joyous nature that makes you want to dance and move. [Bollywood] is filled with wonderful storylines of falling in love and having a happy ending. Being able to capture this hyper-reality in my work was something I aimed to do.

Bringing Bollywood to mainstream audiences is my way of expressing my story as an Australian-Indian.

Bollywood aesthetics are often seen as quite ostentatious or costume-y to those who have never engaged with it before — in reality, it’s so much more.

It’s filled with incredible costume design, poetry, dance choreography and set design, and has so much to offer. I want to encourage people to view it as something that is so much more than the glitz and melodrama that they may see at first glance. 

My clothing is a reflection of my experience and I want them to take up space in the fashion industry; to reflect the changing communities that make up Sydney.

A highlight so far was having my clothes featured in a Nike Women's shoot. It was incredible to see my clothing on such a respected streetwear brand and to see how my clothing can be styled in different contexts.

Another highlight has been seeing Milan Ring wear my outfits for one of her Sydney shows — I loved seeing her embody the nature of the clothing and just be free. She was dancing and moving in my garments in the same way that I would when I was making them!

Fashion designing is a job that is isolating, but at the same time, can’t be done without the support of a team. My role as a fashion designer overlooks the entire process from design and manufacturing, all the way to ensuring garments will be delivered on time.

I don’t feel the pressure to have a ‘personal brand’ but do I see the value in having one. 

Though it’s made the nature of my job fast-paced, with the pressure to keep up with new trends and designers, it’s given me the power of having a platform to present my clothing to the world. 

I love being able to connect to audiences and other creative communities, not just in Australia, but all over the world. It also means I’m able to communicate my vision in the way that I want to, giving me control over how I want to brand myself. 

Being a designer in the digital age means viewers have an insight into more of your process and you as a designer; I personally love being able to share more about myself and how it connects to my clothing. There is so much more than the aesthetics of a final garment that go into making it and I love that I’m able to share more of my story with an audience.

Technology is a huge part of my process — from designing to documenting my creative process, liaising with makers overseas and taking photos, it’s a part of every step I take towards launching a collection. 

Being a designer means that designing is never the only job you do. Other tasks, such as emailing suppliers and being able to update them with my latest designs at any time of day, are so important. The Optus 5G network lets me do this with such ease, it makes my workload so much better to manage.

As an emerging designer, I’m constantly looking for ways to create content and be able to share more of my fashion journey with my audience. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 is so perfect for this — it has a camera that's so easy to use to capture photos and videos without needing anyone but yourself.

Community is at the heart of my practice as a fashion designer and technology plays a key role in this. It’s connected me to musicians, photographers, filmmakers and artists, who I then get the pleasure to collaborate on creative projects with.

In the next five to ten years, I hope to see myself designing for my own brand. It would be incredible to see my work that has been inspired by my Indian heritage find its place here, and see everyone wear a bit more colour!