Done by Munira Chudoba, Ethnomusicologist/with assistance from Farkhod Toirov.
This interview is part of a short film about a young Tajik fashion designer from my hometown-Dushanbe. It is part of interviews conducted for the “Tajikistan Festival” with Kult Eurasia. I would like to thank Khurshed Sattorov for participating and responding to my questions.
Khurshed Sattorov (*1981) is a leading Tajik designer whose work is gaining recognition thanks to his skilful merging of authentic traditional Central Asian patterns into modern fashion design. He has won several prestigious fashion awards in Kazakhstan and Russia, as well as in Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
This year association of KultEurasia has invited Khurshed Sattorov to Vienna, where his work should be among the highlights of the May 2023 Tajikistan Festival. Here is what he had to say, when we asked him a few questions in advance of his visit.
Unfortunately, the presentation in Vienna had to be postponed in the meantime for organizational reasons.
Khurshed, please tell us why you chose fashion as a career.
Good evening, my name is Khurshed Satorov, I’m an artist and designer from Tajikistan. Why I chose fashion as a career? Because Tajik national dress is very colourful; when some 20 years ago I started working with national dress, there were very few others who were doing the same.
What does fashion mean to you? Can you define the concept for us?
Fashion is an art, fashion is beauty, fashion is creation, and I believe beauty will save the world.
Khurshed who buys your fashion?
Usually the buyers are brides, also the stars of the Tajik music, as well as people who like our national dress, including Tajiks both in our country and abroad.
What about the process of designing fashion that you personally prefer and why?
I prefer national dress, and I like to work out – physically – the distribution of national ornaments on this clothing and I reinterpret it in my new designs.
How do you keep up with trends in the world of fashion? Who is your favourite designer?
I have many favourite fashion designers, because there are many distinct individual styles, but most of all I like the work of Arab designers like Suhair Murat and Elie Saab and of the European designers Dolce Gabana. I keep up with trends of world fashion thanks to the internet and social media.
Do you use any software programmes in your work as a designer?
We don’t use any design software so far, we do all of our work by hand, from the initial sketches, to the detailed design and the tailoring.
These days a lot of designers are supporting major global issues such as the climate change. Are your clients happy with your packaging? Do you use sustainable materials?
Of course we do; we have worked out special reusable bags from natural materials (cotton), with our logo for shipment and sales.
What about Europe? What are you planning to bring to Vienna? Will these designs be suitable for women and men, and for them to wear every day?
Every time we travel somewhere, we put together a special collection for the target country, to attract buyers there.
For Vienna, we’ll put together a new collection from natural materials such as silk, Atlas, Ikat, Adras, and cotton. We’ll go for a more temperate set of colours, as our national dress is very bright and might not be received well, which is why we put together a specific collection
How do you see yourself 10 years from now?
Given the experience I have gathered in this field, I hope in 10 years from now I will be passing on this knowledge to a new generation of young designers, to preserve the traditional clothing design, ornamentation and the colour spectrum.
Kultureller Dialog in Eurasien 