For two glorious seasons, the Indian-Canadian family that runs Chandan Fashion in Toronto, Canada, have been delighting audiences around the world with their depictions of style, family life and the most dazzling Indian fashion you can see on television.
Back for a third season, the five family members, patriarch Jatinder ‘Kuki’ Pal Singh, wife Sarab, daughter Chandni, son Chandan and his wife Roop, take the show to new heights as they travel to India, pursue their fashion dreams and treat fans to more family goodness.
Congratulations on Season Three! What are you most looking forward to people seeing this season?
Chandan Singh: India. I mean, that’s definitely the big topic of season three. I feel like it’s what led the first two seasons to this point, which was taking our viewers back to the origin story of where Kuki started from, where some of our garments are came from, and the origins of all the pretty dresses, how they’re made and how some of them can take six to eight months. So we’re really excited about that, and of course, I know that all the viewers are definitely excited for Kuki and Sarab’s I do, we do, which was their remarriage after 40 years.
Chandni Singh: We are reliving all of the moments! You know, India was such a blast for us. So just seeing it on screen, we get to see the show for the first time with all of you guys as well.
Roop Singh: I think hands down, if you ask every single family member, it’s going to be Mom and Dad’s wedding, the I do, we do in Season Three. That’s going to be the highlight for all of us, probably forever. Something to look back at. [There were] so many great moments as well. Going back to dad’s hometown for the first time, all of us. [It was] Roop’s first time. But obviously at this point in our lives, going together with the whole family, it just meant a lot more.
Indian fashion has never been more popular than it is now. Of course, the bridal scene has played a massive part in helping to push that forward on the global stage.
After so many years in fashion, what does it mean to you now?
Chandan: You know, I think that was the big test. [In Season Three] have a fashion show in Mumbai. So having a fashion show in Mumbai… as you said, South Asian fashion is on a global scale right now.
I mean, you saw it happen just at the Met Gala just over the weekend. We saw these huge influencers and fashion designers from India not just adorn some of the biggest actors in the world, like Shah Rukh Khan and Diljit Dosanjh, but also they they came to the show to represent their fashion and their culture and identity.
Sabyasachi Mukherjee was there himself with Shah Rukh Khan. And so you see that focus on South Asian fashion right now more than ever before. So then when we had an opportunity to do a fashion show in Mumbai, something we’ve never done before, that was a very big ask.
It was a very big, uh, challenge. I mean, to be in another country… because our store has been in Canada for 40 years and although we get our garments from India, we don’t have the same network. We don’t have the same contacts over here. Here I can find you a model photographer or a bigger videographer or a coordinator. We have, you know, dozens. But in India we didn’t have any of those contacts. So to contact a model, contact an agency, contact a coordinator, lighting, sound, props, decor. It was a lot.
Then to say, “Okay, now we’re going to do a fashion show. Not in our home base but in another country, in India.” And to represent and show a collection that is going to be shown on a TV show worldwide, on a global scale… that came with immense amounts of pressure.
Every outfit, every piece was meticulously crafted or thought of, debated about, discussed, argued. Then Chadni and Roop were working on a collection for many, many months, and we only saw a sliver of that on the show, of the actual preparation that went into it. So much was shot that didn’t make it in the final cut, but we had so many meetings with our designers and our team internally to create a collection that we’d be proud of.
We did a fusion collection. We did a bridal collection, obviously, but our fusion collection was something really different. We took a trench coat and we put Indian stitching all on the trench coat to make it a little bit more aesthetically different, right? So it’s like… think of a classic brown trench coat, where you have this white threading all over the coat in a very interesting way that would spark a conversation, but that also would hold its own in Mumbai.
It was a big challenge to make sure that we actually step up as a brand, we step up as a family, and we present something that is top, that is newsworthy, that is interesting to push that fashion boundary. We didn’t just want to blend in.
With so many conversations being had about being able to recognize what the diaspora doing, versus being able to recognize one’s roots and what’s going on in India, how do you feel that your show is really carrying that torch of being able to show, “Hey, this is the amazing stuff the diaspora is also doing”?
Roop: I think that’s why season three is so important, because in Season One and Two, we are showcasing that, but through a local and a Canadian lens of being as an immigrant family and fellow South Asians in Canada, how we are contributing and living in society.
Now, thanks to Season Three, we get to also put a lens to the back home version of it, what goes on even just in our business, our our suppliers, our exporters, even the embroiderers in our factories. What it takes for all of this to come together. So it was really neat to showcase that this time around.
So many fans love to comment on both your fashion choices and your style! So I have to ask, what does fashion and style mean to you now, and how has that changed over time?
Roop: For me, it will always be comfort first. I feel like unless you are comfortable in what you are wearing, if you’re not walking with ease and comfort and confidence, it doesn’t matter how expensive or exquisite or beautiful of the garment it is. How you feel and move about in it is half the equation.
Chandni: Personally, yes. I agree, I think for Roop and I, we definitely have a simplistic style and we love to carry that across, whether it’s Indian wear or Western wear. When we blend the two together… sometimes we’ll be styling, you know, the little black dress, and just, you know, something with like a little bit of like Indian fushion with earrings.
Something that we always strive for is “How can we really blend the two cultures together?” But again, Roop said it. It’s all comfort. Then obviously the fit! You know, it could be a $20 dress, but if it fits you, good. We’re going with that.
Roop: Oh my goodness, yes. I would say even for… you know, our embroideries are so exquisite and rich. But some of my favorite bridal lehengas are the ones that have more negative space. They’re not so heavily embellished. However, their fit, their flair, their tailoring is top notch. And that just brings the outfit to life.
Tailoring is so important. So important, as we know from the recent Met Gala theme!
We’ve just had such a wonderful celebration of so many South Asian women, female creatives and filmmakers in the UK. I’d love to know your thoughts on what it means to be a South Asian female creative in the space today.
What does that mean to you and where do you hope to take that?
Roop: That’s a very powerful question. I would love to say that: “It’s not that big of a deal anymore. We’re equals, and we’re taken very seriously, and that torch is no longer needed to be carried forward.” But that’s not necessarily the case just yet.
It will get there one day eventually, for sure, but it’s really nice to be a part of that movement, to move confidently ahead, make our footprint and make it easier for other South Asian girls and women to follow in the field or in any field to that, to that matter.
Sometimes just being a female alone can be a challenge. Then being a South Asian female definitely adds its own little twist and spice into the mix. But it keeps life interesting, it keeps us on our toes. It’s quite the journey.
Chandni: I think I’d like to add that we definitely have to give kudos to the previous generation. So, mom, for example, [as] someone who’s definitely paved the way so that Roop and I, and our generation can really make these creative pieces with ease, because that was definitely not the case back then 40 years ago.
I’m sure with some people, it’s still the case now where: “You want to be a fashion designer? Are you kidding me? This is not going to this is not going to sustain your lifestyle, or you’re not going to be comfortable.”
But we’re very privileged that we have all these resources at hand, to be able to use that. But again, that’s because the path has been paved for us, because of mom. So I really hope that with future generations, that it’s just going to be exactly what Roop said at the beginning of the conversation: “No big deal.”
So we’re headed in that way, and I think we can definitely celebrate that.
Beautiful. Do each of you have someone that would be your dream person style or design for?
Roop: Yes. Personally, Miley Cyrus! Her sense of fashion right now… her style is insane. Everything she’s doing: it’s edgy, it’s beautiful, it’s vintage. It mixes old with new. I love to see what she’s creating. Designing an outfit for her would be unreal. It’d be such a big dream for me, for sure.
What would you go for? What kind of things would you have in mind?
Roop: I wish I could have a day to just showcase our South Asian Indian embroideries to her. I feel like she would so, so appreciate them and love them. And create these, like, super edgy… I’m thinking something like South Asian embroidery on rich black leather, and it’s something that we don’t even do! I don’t really think we’ve ever done [something like that]. I’ve done it on a leather loafer, but I mean on an entire, like, a mini skirt or a jacket or something. It would be so cool. And she could rock it for sure!
Amazing!
Roop: Yeah, sorry, super left field!
No, it’s fantastic!
Chandni: I think there’s always going to be someone that we can style, from this generation. We know each client that walks into our door… the fun that we have styling them according to their personality, getting to know them first. Let’s leave the questions to the last. It’s like, “Let’s get to know each other!” and see what their vision is. Then through that you really get to see their personality.
From there then you get to suggest the pieces and you know, if they’re wedding shopping with us, you’re not just coming here for a one hour visit. They’re going to be coming back again and again over the course of a month or two months. So you really get to curate their entire, five to seven pieces that they’re looking for in their closet.
And the best part is, when they come back for more, like, “I’m going to my brother’s wedding,” you already have a sense of their personality, and you’re actually creating these pieces together and styling them together. So I think that’s the day to day joy.
How do you pick the storylines for the show? How careful are you now, knowing how many people are watching the show?
Sarab Singh: We have to have a family meeting for that!
Chandan: We have one scheduled this Friday actually.
Sarab: Yeah.
Chandan: You know that’s the thing, because we’re a real family on the show. It’s not very easy to think about, what you want to present on the show, because we’re just living our lives. We’re doing what we’re doing.
Kuki starts talking to someone offscreen.
Chandan: You see! He’s at the store right now, so he can’t help himself from working! You know, sometimes it’s as simple as that. The next thing you know, it turns into a scene where I’m trying to talk to him and he just keeps on being interrupted by customers, and he’s interrupting me with customers. Next thing you know, it’s a scene in Bollywood, right?
This is how they get the lights turned on. Yeah. This is how they got the lights. This is how they got the blanket scene; with the blanket scene I remember being there the first day of filming and I’m like, “Dad, we’re about to get our own TV show now. Can you please stop it with the blankets? Like, no more blankets. Let’s just focus on bridal!
The producers overheard us, you know, arguing about these blankets, being in the store. Next thing you know…
Kuki Singh: Blanket is my baby!
Chandan: He said – [laughs]
Kuki: Blanket is my baby!
Chandan: That’s the beautiful thing about the show, that it’s a docuseries. It’s so based on our everyday lives. If you just stick around with us for a week, you can have a full season mapped out right there.
Bollywed Season 3 is streaming now on Fuse+, with new episodes airing Tuesdays at 10pm on Fuse.
