NAVI

Navi is the creative director and designer behind Nauni J. Previous to her fashion design career, she studied criminology. Fashion design, from an early age, played an important role in her life and she displayed her passion by making clothes for either herself or her dolls. Her mother and aunt were her mentors early in her career, as they taught her how to hand stitch and knit her very own scarves.

Although her ability to sketch was poor, it didn’t stop her from visualizing her designs. She compensated by showcasing her work in sketch figures with no body shapes that included labels for clarifying her ideas.

After graduating from Visual College of Art and Design in June 2015, her dream became a reality when she showcased her first collection at the Vancouver Emerging Designers Show (VEDS) and RAW: Holiday RAWk 2015.  

Prior to her first two fashion show, with the help of her mentor and friend, Jason Matlo, her collection had been displayed in Vancouver Sun’s New Year 2014 clip but and in Rosette Luve’s music video, “Sweetest Mistake”. 

Her work has also been in Little Black Dress Gala (2016) and RAW: Cusp (2017), Beanu Magazine (2016), Girlys Magazine (2017) and Elegant Magazine (2017).

INSPIRATION                             

Her biggest inspirations from day one have been Alexander McQueen, Jason Matlo, Gianni Vercase, and her family. Alexander McQueen’s work is greatly admirable and most of her pieces are inspired by his work. Her career aspiration is to make it as far as him.

Jason Matlo has been her greatest mentor, most amazing teacher and friend. She would say, her growth thus far is greatly attributed because of him and still continues. He believed in her passion and talent, and she will forever be grateful for his guidance.

Her family is her rock and they have kept her grounded. “I don’t know where I would be without their continued support.” Her very first collection was inspired by them.

WHY FASHION

Fashion began as a hobby when she first created outfits for her dolls, and she enjoyed the challenge of designing different looks and styles for them. She would rip magazines apart and scour the internet for designs. One day she discovered documentaries and news articles about different clothing factories blowing up or falling apart due to poor construction.

She found it heartbreaking to hear about poor people suffering at the hands of large corporations by getting paid .10 cents an hour while working in the poorest conditions. The more she learned about this, the more it became personal to her.

She realized that the success of the large corporations would not be possible without each individual that helped create the clothes. She knew from that moment – when she is in the position of being a lead fashion designer, she would dedicate much of her work to her helping hands. She became inspired to one day become a voice for the amazing workers and to challenge the large corporations to pay fair wages and safe work environments.