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The Power of Colour, Confidence and Connection: Rediscovering Identity Through the Sari with Nidhi Uppal
43 Plays1 month ago
In today’s episode of Connected with Iva, I’m joined by Nidhi Uppal to explore colour, confidence and self-expression through the timeless sari. We talk about identity, creativity, cultural connection and how what we wear can shape how we feel. This is a conversation about joy, openness and reconnecting with yourself in a more playful and expressive way.
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Transcript
Introduction to Nidhi and Her Vibrant Work
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to Connected with Iva. Today's guest is someone who truly brings color to everything she does, quite literally. I'm joined by Nidhi, whose work celebrates the beauty, meaning, and storytelling power of color, especially through the timeless elegance of the sari.
00:00:16
Speaker
Through her sari workshops, Nidhi is helping people reconnect with tradition in a modern, expressive way, showing that what we wear can be both deeply personal and culturally rich.
00:00:27
Speaker
Lovely to see you. Lovely to chat to you today. And thank you so much for speaking to me. You know, when we had our lovely conversation. ah Your love for color translated through the call. Have you always been fascinated by vibrant colors?
00:00:46
Speaker
Yes, definitely. I've always felt at home and energized by wearing color, by so being surrounded by color, whether it's you know through the furnishings or whatever it is around you.
00:01:01
Speaker
I feel joy. You were also mentioning about the color walk, right? That color connects people, color brings people together. It might not be the first thing someone thinks of color, right? Oh, yeah, like connection, you know.
00:01:17
Speaker
It's so nice when, you know, vibrancy and color and clothes connect people in that
The Empowering Nature of Saris
00:01:24
Speaker
in that way. So you do beautiful sari workshops. Tell me about your journey with that. Well, the sari has always been a beautiful garment that I have worn through my heritage.
00:01:38
Speaker
ah grown up with it, surrounded by women who've enjoyed it and and looked beautifully graceful in there. And when I first wore a sari, the feeling of empowerment and grace and beauty and being wrapped in a textile, often very colorful and embroidered, was second to none. I'd never come across that.
00:02:02
Speaker
Sometimes we reserved these special garments for occasion wear. Or, you know, a special day. But I realized that wearing something like that more often, and actually daily, I wear them daily, it just opened up a different world to me.
00:02:20
Speaker
it was It was pure joy. So joy was the basis of it. I actually inherited, well, my family inherited a whole treasure trove of saris from my mother when both my parents passed away. And this was back in 2022.
00:02:37
Speaker
Although it was a time of sadness, this positivity and my journey grew from then. I decided that having all these beautiful saris, I was going to be practical and I was going to just wear them every day.
00:02:52
Speaker
I was going to be experimental and I have a science background. So, you know, I approached it quite logically and, you know, in a practical way. And I thought, okay,
00:03:05
Speaker
I have these, let's wear them. And that's where it began. For myself, just playing, playing with this fluid, five and a half meters of fabric and trying to discover what I could do with it.
00:03:18
Speaker
And then it grew from then because through what I wore, my outward creative expression. When other people saw me, they wanted to talk to me and connect.
00:03:30
Speaker
So through the color, through the textile, whatever it was, I was making these connections and that was something new and unexpected, but I loved it.
Cultural Significance and Evolving Identity of Saris
00:03:42
Speaker
I loved it and I loved that so much that I thought, well, maybe this is something other people want to know about. my love for the sari, and many other people love saris, maybe this can be translated into an instrument to connect people.
00:03:57
Speaker
And the joy of playing with fabric, giving yourself the permission to experiment and be, you know, playful, which sometimes we just don't get a chance to do.
00:04:08
Speaker
Absolutely. I would like to ask you, do you think, from your perspective, the way people wear sari and how they identify with the sari has changed over time?
00:04:23
Speaker
It's innate in the garment, in the sari, that it is slow fashion. It's been around for more than 5,000 years. It's one of the most continuously worn garments for that period.
00:04:38
Speaker
And it's got to do with the fact that it doesn't follow trends. You make it your own. For example, all the countries that it originated from, so, you know, from the South Asian part of the world,
00:04:53
Speaker
they have their own drapes. Each country, each state, for example, in India would have its own drape or multiple drapes. That is being preserved to some extent.
00:05:06
Speaker
However, sometimes the Western world and Western garments overtook you know the importance of the heritage in garment wear. Now,
00:05:17
Speaker
I think people are re-looking at it, reinventing it, recognizing it for its sustainable fashion, recognizing that the sari can be so much more than sometimes we'd you know boxed it to be. It was boxed up and very prescriptive.
00:05:35
Speaker
It doesn't need to be that way. Let's look at it again. And then know this is different for each diaspora community. For example, in the UK, how we look at our garments and the challenges we've had as well, wearing them in everyday life.
00:05:53
Speaker
Perhaps in the 60s, it was more difficult because you you stood out. And did you actually want to blend because it was a new country you'd come to and you didn't want to be the odd one out?
00:06:05
Speaker
But at the same time, you wanted to celebrate your identity through your clothing. It's somehow easier today. It definitely seems more celebrated.
00:06:17
Speaker
Your differences and your expression through your clothing, whether it's your identity or your personal choice, is celebrated and enjoyed and shared. I think the sari itself is always evolving.
00:06:31
Speaker
It's a garment that will continue to evolve. It's just going to be there for us always. So why not enjoy it now? Reinterpret it now. And it's for everyone. You know, as long as we always acknowledge that the roots of the sari are from South Asia, that, you know, all these artisan communities have put all of their skills into making these beautiful garments, they are to be celebrated as well.
00:06:56
Speaker
It's why not? Why can't we celebrate this together? And thinking about colors, because obviously, especially like around you, there are so many colors and it's so beautiful to have these vibrant colors.
00:07:08
Speaker
What do different colors mean? In saris, you would wear certain colors for certain occasions. For example, the reds are associated with wedding time and auspicious occasions.
00:07:20
Speaker
But this varies throughout India. you know In different countries, they have different meanings, different colors. I see the sari as color in motion. Once you drape it onto your body, it suddenly comes alive.
00:07:34
Speaker
It's up to you two kind of bring it to life in whichever way you want it to.
Integrating Science and Creativity in Sari Workshops
00:07:40
Speaker
As we were talking about it earlier about connection, color has its own energy. So the different wavelengths, you know, they have different energy.
00:07:49
Speaker
And also I learned recently about how there are energy points in our body. which are also associated with colors, and they then energize different parts of us.
00:08:00
Speaker
Perhaps our relationship to color is deeper than just what you visibly see. There are energy fields, etc., that affect us both physically and psychologically.
00:08:13
Speaker
And maybe those connections are made because of that. There's that term dopamine dressing that you may have come across. Yes. So dopamine is a hormone and a neurotransmitter that within our bodies does give us that feel good feeling, color.
00:08:31
Speaker
is a easy way to kind of switch that on as well. It equally does the same. How does your science background play in into your workshops and how you create your workshops and how you rediscover salaries?
00:08:46
Speaker
It's a lovely mix, actually. When I look at the sari, I see a beautiful design. It's actually just a strip of fabric. So there's the almost zero pattern waste, but it's a beautiful design.
00:09:00
Speaker
So I look at design and I think design is kind of the art of science. In my workshops, I do talk about the heritage. I talk about the sari and its simple design.
00:09:10
Speaker
But then when it comes to creativity, it's a combination of your own personal dress code and how you feel comfortable wearing things, but also what can you achieve through a piece of fabric, you know the folds, the knots, the twists, the pleats, you know the the cascades, there is so much there.
00:09:33
Speaker
I suppose if you systematically do it you know like an experiment, you could start with the pleats and then experiment with something else and then work out what works well for you your body shape, the task in hand. Are you actually going to go and ride a bike in this or are you going for a run in it or are you on the trains and you need something practical and it's raining outside, you know you need something that which is up to your knees and it's not going to get wet, whatever it is.
00:10:03
Speaker
The practical side of me does look at all of that as well. And if you want to wear a sari every day, it's essential that you make it practical for you for every day.
00:10:14
Speaker
I must admit, my design education started when I started volunteering at the Design Museum. And it's one of the leading, world's leading institutes for all things in contemporary design.
00:10:27
Speaker
And that has helped me grow in terms of not just my knowledge, but my confidence in doing what I'm doing. And that transition from science to something a bit more creative has been amazing.
00:10:42
Speaker
I must admit that one of the other key turning points for me in my sari draping journey was the amazing exhibition, The Offbeat
Impact of Fashion on Confidence
00:10:52
Speaker
Sari.
00:10:52
Speaker
which was at the Design Museum when I was there volunteering. And its um curator, Priya Kanchandani, put the sari on a world stage and showed the contemporary sari, or a story about the contemporary sari today.
00:11:07
Speaker
And that inspired me no end. Having these wonderful saris gifted and then seeing this exhibition just launched me into this, my own investigative journey, which, you know, I'm sharing with everybody now.
00:11:22
Speaker
I'm saying, come and wear a sari. Come and enjoy. what you could have by just wrapping this five and a half meters around you. That's beautiful. You know, I think we obviously we were introduced by Sarah and when I was speaking to her, we were saying how clothes really change your mood and how you feel about yourself, how you present yourself to others. They're so important. And actually we don't really necessarily think too much about them. Sometimes, you know, you might have like a a bad day and you'll wear something to reflect that. So in a way, you don't wear something that makes you feel good because, oh, I don't feel good today. So wear something that makes me feel even worse.
00:12:03
Speaker
Clothes are related to confidence. And there's also the experimenting with clothes where you feel a little bravery and you're like figuring things out about yourself and who you are and your characteristics as the human being. And You know, there's this occasion where I want to, you know, wear a print because I'm feeling a little more adventurous. I'm just looking at a blazer. I have that's a print and I almost never wear it because it's a little bit daring. Yeah.
00:12:30
Speaker
i think that's just it, isn't it? You need the courage. The first step is courage. Take that first step, wear it. What have you got to lose? Maybe it's it's something that's going to grow on you.
00:12:43
Speaker
And as you said, clothing can be empowering. And the sari is one of those garments. It's a garment of empowerment. It can also be cocoon. I just want to be wrapped up in this. I want to feel comfortable and hugged.
00:12:58
Speaker
While I'm going through a transition, it could be you're going through a transition, you know you're dormant in this cocoon for a while, I feel a day like this. Maybe that's what I was doing as well. Maybe i was cocooning myself during a transition period.
00:13:12
Speaker
After that, I could see that my creativity changed. I was becoming more bold and confident. Perhaps I had this period where I, as opposed due to the grief, which I didn't even realize then, perhaps that's what I was doing.
00:13:28
Speaker
It's um a beautiful journey. You start with yourself and you start really being comfortable in your own skin and what you put on that skin, right?
00:13:38
Speaker
Absolutely. Because it's about connecting with yourself first, isn't it? It's inner connection. My journey with clothing has been quite complicated maybe over the years. When I was at high school, I was bullied. And one of the things, kids were making fun of me for always wearing the same clothes. And that kind of thing over time, when I'm thinking about how comfortable or uncomfortable I was over the years with clothing,
00:14:07
Speaker
I feel like it took me a while to stop maybe associating myself with that version of myself that was bullied at school because, you know, so clothes were not necessarily that positive association.
00:14:21
Speaker
And even because when I was very, very little, my parents basically wanted to have a boy. They would dress me up as a boy and would have short hair for like years and I could never wear any dresses and anything like pink or that kind of stuff.
00:14:37
Speaker
So I guess that relationship, that kind of unhealthy relationship with clothing started like from the very beginning of my life. Until actually our conversation, I hadn't even really thought about it because it's not something you think about.
00:14:52
Speaker
Clothes and your your life journey with clothes and your you know experiences with clothing, you don't think about that. And actually, it has a very big impact on you as a human being, how other people see you. Actually, also, a lot of kids are bullied because of the way they dress, right? If you come from a place, I come from Bulgaria, where you didn't have uniforms, so you would wear your own clothes to school.
00:15:16
Speaker
And if you wanted to be creative, you couldn't because you'd get laughed at because that's not something that's you know promoted at school and you have to fit in and blend in.
00:15:28
Speaker
The importance of you know what you associate with clothing and with confidence, like how you were saying when you want to start wearing bright and different, then you're stepping into your confident self.
00:15:43
Speaker
Yeah. And that also shows in the way behave, in the way you show up in the world. And it could be anything from being braver and taking braver choices.
00:15:55
Speaker
Absolutely. It's so important. It is important. It's nice to see when I do talk to people in the workshops and how they have gone away inspired to go and look at their own wardrobe. It doesn't mean that they're necessarily going to incorporate a sari into their wardrobe, but just to reassess, like you're saying, their association, their connection to their relationship to what they wear.
00:16:20
Speaker
And they've got smiles on their face. They're joyful. They're excited to be going to have a look now and to change things. And I love that. Sometimes, because I always travel on the underground in whatever I wear, especially but when I go to the color walk as well. I'm in my full color.
00:16:36
Speaker
you know, with a hat and a headdress and all kinds of layers and layers of accessories. It's lovely to see a connection through a smile or a kind word or a curiosity as to where we're going. It's remarkable to see we're usually a couple of spots of color in a sea of blacks and grays and navies. It's about fitting in, isn't it? And not standing out, like you said. It's small changes. We can make small changes. We can add A small amount of color or something that we're comfortable with and it kind of goes from there.
00:17:12
Speaker
Eva, you must come to a color walk. Come and see it for yourself. I would love to. And actually, like you're saying, it kind of makes you happy looking at colors and being surrounded by colors. It does. And then you connect with the other people as well. And then you realize what brought them there.
00:17:30
Speaker
And we all have such wonderful, amazing stories to tell. Everybody has a lovely story to tell and share. And they're also very creative people themselves. So we now we support each other in our ventures.
00:17:43
Speaker
And we just rejoice in the fact that we're bound by color. It's lovely. And how you were saying, you know, normally you're surrounded by a pool of same
Building Connections Through Color and Fashion
00:17:52
Speaker
colors. I turned to new gym and I was looking and everyone was wearing black.
00:17:57
Speaker
And I was like, I'm going to wear like pink and blue and green. Especially on the trains, right? Like how you're saying, it's very, very active there. But it does. it's We always have a chuckle because like I go into the color walk with a few friends.
00:18:12
Speaker
We invite everybody to come and join us and some of them do turn up. It's wonderful. And that's just it You can create from these fleeting connections, you can make them more meaningful once you're part of a community.
00:18:26
Speaker
And it's it's just a joyful process. What do you notice in the people that attend your workshops? How are they before and after? you know What's like that kind of shift? If there is a shift, I think there is because you mentioned.
00:18:41
Speaker
What do you see in people? I think a curiosity has got to be there. So that they're there because they're curious. They're almost watching from the other side of the fence to begin with.
00:18:52
Speaker
They're dappling in it. And once they feel a little bit more confident, they have the courage to express themselves a little more.
Transition from Science to Creative Design
00:19:01
Speaker
And in each color walk, and I went through the same thing in each color walk, you're sometimes influenced by the people you've seen already. And you think, oh, that gives me a great idea. i think I will borrow from that and I can do this.
00:19:15
Speaker
You then delve into your own creative self and feel how your self-expression, how you're comfortable with actually, not just about anybody else, but you translate it to yourself.
00:19:28
Speaker
And you see these people coming out of their cocoons and they're into their butterfly metamorphosis. And it's it's beautiful. And there's been this lovely little compilation of stories as well. We've got a little book, a compilation of stories of our journeys.
00:19:45
Speaker
And that's wonderful as well. Something else, because you were working in science before, slightly off the main topic, but what has that journey been like for you, you know, changing?
00:19:58
Speaker
on On the surface, very dramatic difference, right? Science into colors and clothes. How has that purpose shifted for you in your life?
00:20:09
Speaker
My first love was always science, but I've always had a parallel creative side. Always. You have to choose as a child, you know, which direction to go in.
00:20:20
Speaker
And so I chose chemistry, biochemistry, biotechnology. I still love it. There's some self-doubt in that. Why have I stopped following this path? A path where I studied for years and I know I love.
00:20:34
Speaker
Something changed. And I just said to myself, my responsibilities as a mother as well, because I did my science career. and my teaching career, a school teaching career, alongside motherhood.
00:20:49
Speaker
When I felt that the children were independent and happy to do their own thing, I felt I wanted to come back to that creative side of me and I could never have felt more happy with the decision.
00:21:04
Speaker
And this was actually just prior to another huge change in my life when my parents passed away. So I had like, I've made this decision and I thought I'm just going to go down this path now.
00:21:16
Speaker
And then of course it took a turn and other things happened, but creativity almost rescued me from this. And although I still love science and I still use that, the focused approach, the experimental nature of things, science is problem solving.
00:21:36
Speaker
I can use those same skills in my creativity. And then I found design, which is a combination of everything. My initial thought of, oh, should I leave science? Oh, I've invested so much time in it. and And I even had some people saying to me, oh, but but you've done so well and why are you doing this? But it was like, you do it for yourself.
00:21:58
Speaker
And it couldn't have been a better time for me to do it. And I'm so glad I did. I haven't looked back, although I do incorporate things. science-based things like a ah ah DNA fascinator or something like that. And when I first met Sarah, our mutual friend, I was wearing a a dopamine molecule on my hat and And as a brooch. And she recognized it immediately because she also has a medical background.
00:22:27
Speaker
And that's what drew us to each other. so it was a connection through that. And I love that. I love that. The fact that we connected through not just science, but design and our mutual you know love for fashion and science.
00:22:43
Speaker
It feels like the more you're open, the more people who are like-minded find you and you connect to individuals who have you know the same interest, the same path, they're on the same journey.
00:22:57
Speaker
To be able to do that, there's that openness. You have to be open. That's you know the number one requirement. to kind of like almost like turn your palms upwards and like I'm open this is this path that I'm setting on and I'm trusting that the right things will find me and I'll find my way and it will all be okay and then It seems like then the best things happen. you know you You meet the best people. You get the best opportunities. you You create beautiful things. You surround yourself with colors. It could be anything, but I feel like that openness is number one requirement for anything like that.
00:23:38
Speaker
I agree. One of the first things I do say to people who want to come and do a bit of sari creativity is leave your preconceptions at the door. Be open-minded. Give yourself permission to be free.
00:23:50
Speaker
in thought and in movement and in embracing you know the colors and the textiles around you. Try and connect with them first and then see where it takes you. We're not about correctness here.
00:24:03
Speaker
There is no right or wrong way. And one size fits all. That is the sari. One size fits all.
Spreading Joy and Overcoming Challenges
00:24:11
Speaker
What do you feel like here the future holds for you?
00:24:15
Speaker
I don't know. i quite like the idea that I don't know what it holds for me because I'm a person who who embraces change. And sometimes that is what I like.
00:24:27
Speaker
I want things to change. I want to look at the next. It doesn't have to be an obstacle, but the next project, whatever it is, I'm always looking at the present.
00:24:38
Speaker
We all have dreams. So there's always the dreams that perhaps one day I could do this or that, but I try and focus on the present. What I would love to do is just spread the joy to people through the sari and color and just let them just get to know it.
00:24:59
Speaker
and then see if it's for them and just embrace it as another way of connection, whether to yourself, whether it's just yourself in your room playing with it and just learning and just having a bit of fun, or you're there in a group discovering what is possible and you know you're creating all of these beautiful garments just for a bit of fun, really, just for a bit of fun.
00:25:27
Speaker
And how do you deal with self-doubt when it comes? Because obviously it always and inevitably comes in some form. I think that's part of the creative process.
00:25:40
Speaker
Self-doubt is a part of the creative process and we have to just I suppose like in science, negative results are also a result which you can build on.
00:25:51
Speaker
So there's a positivity in that because it means that, that well, this doesn't work. Let's problem self and do something else. In the same way, when your' you have self-doubt, I just turn it around and say, well, actually, I am just doing it for myself and this feels good to me. Let's not think about anyone else.
00:26:11
Speaker
And if it feels good to you, it doesn't matter about anyone else. It really doesn't. And that's how I deal with it. And what i've what I'm doing feels good to me at the moment, but it could change, couldn't it?
00:26:26
Speaker
It could easily change. And then I will look at that in a different perspective and I will, I don't know, find the energy and whatever I need to then deal with that next situation.
00:26:38
Speaker
Do you think confidence built and what is the process of building confidence? Perhaps we are all born as confident individuals, but then sometimes circumstances make us waver.
00:26:53
Speaker
And it's just, I suppose, relating to your own personal situations and environments, recognizing what it is that's perhaps holding you back or causing this little shift.
00:27:06
Speaker
And then allowing yourself to recognize it and then move on to how you can change this. And maybe it's it's being around certain people who are uplifting, who in your eyes are confident or are doing exactly what brings them joy.
00:27:23
Speaker
you know It could be a simple thing of just wearing a color and shifting your own personal emotions and feelings by wearing that color and the energies it's bringing you. you know It could just be something simple like that. It's worth experimenting a bit.
00:27:38
Speaker
But be open-minded. Like you said, I think that's the beginning. Be open-minded. And then you can go in all sorts of directions. I think we all have these lows where we want to just perhaps just retreat to our own little island that what am I doing?
00:27:56
Speaker
But actually, it's an important process to regroup, think about what you're doing again, and then launch into your next step. Whatever that might be, it might be a tiny step in one direction or it might just be a leap across holding a bunch of friends and leaping together. You know, we're all in it together.
00:28:17
Speaker
But sometimes it does help finding a group of people to inject a bit of confidence in you and listen to their stories and realize that actually we can all support each other and get through this. It's very helpful.
00:28:30
Speaker
And I feel like a nice question to end on a very peaceful note is what brings you peace out of everything you do a create?
Finding Peace in Creative Processes
00:28:40
Speaker
I do find creativity in terms of my my sari development, the the whole work that I do, i find it quite meditative.
00:28:50
Speaker
Whether it's just feeling the fabric, just holding it, being held by it. That's nice. Yeah, it's peaceful.
00:29:01
Speaker
It is.