Pinanki Shah joined MA Fashion Branding & Creative Communication in 2018. Since graduating from CSVPA, her journey has seen her continue her creative education, launch her own Fashion brand and debut her first collection at London Fashion Week.
Pinanki’s journey began in the maximalist city of Mumbai, where she was raised. After earning her undergraduate degree in Fashion Design in India and learning sustainable fashion practices in the experimental town of Auroville, she enrolled at CSVPA to further immerse herself in the multifaceted nature of the industry. Building on her prior academic foundation, the MA in Fashion Branding & Creative Communication course provided her with the opportunity to expand her expertise, honing critical skills in areas essential for her success in the fashion world.
For Pinanki, it was the opportunity to study within the personalised class environment offered at CSVPA that attracted her.
“The best thing about studying at CSVPA was the small class. The tutors were very focused on each one of us and we could get a lot of time and mentoring from them” she explained.
Another aspect that drew her to CSVPA was the freedom to collaborate across MA programmes and the opportunities that presented to broaden her creative experience. “Because we were a small group, we actually collaborated on each other’s projects even if we weren’t necessarily on the same Fashion Branding & Creative Communication course. We all helped each other and collaborated for example on photoshoots, marketing or branding.”
The diverse, intellectually stimulating, and expansive nature of the briefs set in the MA in Fashion Branding & Creative Communication course enabled Pinanki to engage in a series of pioneering and cross-disciplinary projects.
One such project was titled Undying Hair. “I used hair as a medium to explore the constructions of beauty standards that intersects with race, femininity and appropriation” explained Pinanki. “I am also interested in knowing what changes the meaning of hair when it is taken off from the head and placed on other parts of the body.”
These creative assignments not only fostered Pinanki’s creative growth but also empowered her to craft a visually captivating and distinctive portfolio that showcases her ability to merge innovative concepts across multiple mediums.
On graduating from CSVPA, Pinanki was accepted onto the prestigious MA Fashion Design In Womenswear course at Central Saint Martins (CSM) where her graduate collection was selected for the curated catwalk at London Fashion Week in 2023. “It was actually the tutors at CSVPA that encouraged me to apply to CSM” said Pinanki. “I used a number of projects from my MA course at CSVPA in my application.” While pursuing her MA at Central Saint Martins, she was awarded the L’Oreal Professional Award for her graduation collection in 2023 and the Sally Woodward Award in 2022.
Throughout her career, Pinanki has gained valuable experience working with visionary brands like 431-88 by Shweta Kapur in Delhi and Pam Hogg in London.
She is now launching her own brand PINANKI, a London-based womenswear brand that works with a unique blend of craft-based, minimal- waste practices at the forefront. Drawing inspiration from the rich textiles and clothing archives of South Asia, she is inspired by the dress and life of a woman in the precolonial era, resulting in garments that are not only visually stunning but also environmentally intentional. Using mainly surplus fabrics and Saris, she applies heritage draping techniques with modern tailoring to achieve zero waste and innovative construction.
A large part of the PINANKI ethos is to produce clothes that are size-free. Pinanki explains: “The inspiration behind size-free comes from the clothing archives from the past. They used large pieces of fabric that were draped around the body, so anyone could wear it”. Using this concept, Pinanki has contemporised the practice for a busy modern wearer. “Size-free means the garment becomes everlasting . It will suit you the same in different stages of your life and it is one of the key aspects of my designs.”
For SS26, Pinanki debuted her brand and presented in her rage – her first collection and film – at London Fashion Week as a NEW GEN award winner. “This collection is a maturation of the work I was producing during my MA” said Pinanki. “It captures the silent resilience and unspoken rage of a woman as she navigates life’s stages. Each piece represents a chapter—from the innocence of a young girl to the fierce determination of a grown woman.”
Her work has been featured on Vogue Runway, SHOWstudio, Another Magazine, T Magazine, 1 Granary, Fashion United, V Magazine and Port Magazine.
When asked what piece of advice she would give to someone aspiring to enter the Fashion industry, Pinanki said “I would say find your voice and stay true. Be sure of your concepts and why you want to do this, why you want to make more clothes when there is already so much available. I think that is really important because Fashion is so huge and saturated right now. Always consider who are you making this for.”
Find out more about studying an MA in Fashion Branding & Creative Communication at CSVPA.
