THAT’S A WRAP

Designer Lily Forbes Shafroth’s unisex robes, made in collaboration with Indian artisans, bring both a story and a conscience to fashion.

By SHYAM PATEL

FASHION IS OFTEN THOUGHT OF AS A PRODUCT OF STORIED CAPITAL CITIES. While New York, Paris, and Milan command much of the attention, the industry thrives in towns far beyond their horizons; 26-year-old Detroit-based designer Lily Forbes Shafroth is proof of this wide geographic reach. In September, Shafroth will unveil a line of handwoven silk robes that mark an inflection point in her unisex clothing label, Lily Forbes, her 18-month old firm that has to date produced garments only of vintage silk or handwoven cotton. The new collection’s vibrant custom textiles—woven and dyed in Bihar and transported to a fair-trade production house in Delhi, where they’re cut and sewn—are fluid, skillfully made garments that reflect Shafroth’s singular dedication to responsible fashion.

Her collection is the result of years of ups, downs, and research. Raised in Colorado and Washington, DC, by a wildlife-conservationist father and social activist mother, Shafroth learned about environmental and human rights issues early on. In 2015, as a geography student at UC Berkeley (where she spent a semester abroad studying fashion at Central Saint Martin’s) with a minor in global poverty and practice, Shafroth took a two-month research trip to Varanasi, the Hindu pilgrimage city on the Ganges known for its opulent silk saris and »

THIS PAGE AND OPPOSITE: The garments from Detroit-based designer Lily Forbes Shafroth’s latest collection are made from silk that is handwoven and dyed in the Indian state of Bihar.

A handwoven silk robe from Lily Forbes’s fall collection.

captivating perfumes. “I was specifically interested in [learning about] female artisan entrepreneurship, how systems of inequality are created, and how we’re complicit in them,” she says.

Shafroth observed many foreign companies working in India—and exploiting it economically. “I wanted to understand how a partnership [in India] could be effective without continuing neocolonial power structures,” she says. Later that year, with cofounder Milica Boijic, she launched Artful Scout, a readyto-wear and accessories line made by a collective of women whom Shafroth had met in India. Logistical issues and shifting local markets forced the company to fold just two years later, but Shafroth remained firm in her resolve to work in India, even if it meant doing so alone, and began looking for new production sources. In 2016, through a customer at Artful Scout’s Detroit pop-up, the designer met Theresa VanderMeer, founder and CEO of Work + Shelter, a fair-trade cut-and-sew Delhi production house that employs female artisans who face gender and caste discrimination. VanderMeer invited Shafroth to discuss working out of her facility, and the designer naturally jumped at the opportunity.

The silk textiles in Lily Forbes’s fall collection exemplify Shafroth’s dedication to doing things right. Created on handlooms by fourth-generation weavers, the silk is colored with fair-trade AZO-free pigments by a seasoned dyer before being transported to Work + Shelter in Delhi for production. In addition to using nontoxic processes that consume less water than typical manufacturing methods, Shafroth empowers her sources to keep their age-old production techniques alive in an era of mass production and automation. “I’ve seen a lot of shallow engagement in fair-trade business,” she says. “While people’s hearts are in the right place, it’s important to have an [authentic] relationship with the individuals you work with.” Last year, Shafroth drove eight hours from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh’s sugarcane country so she could spend time with the artisans she collaborates with. The weaving group is led by the Alis, a Muslim family who, like others of their faith, are facing hardship amid increasing Hindu nationalism in India. “I sat in their living room and talked about everything from the fabric they make to their experiences with discrimination in the current climate,” Shafroth says. “It was a powerful experience.”

Shafroth’s efforts to better understand the craft communities that support her budding label stem from a desire to reach across time and culture. It’s significant that she’s placed the robe—a size- and gender-inclusive garment—at the center of her practice. From the vestments worn in Christian churches to the chakdar jamas of Mughal India and kimono of Japan, iterations of the robe’s accommodating silhouette have been at the center of both ritual and daily life for centuries. “Growing up, I watched my mom get ready in her bathrobe,” Shafroth says. “It taught me about the art of wrapping yourself up [to prepare] for the day. It was incredibly nurturing.” She keeps two heirlooms, her grandmother’s blue silk bathrobe and her great-grandmother’s raspberry-pink silk velvet cape, as conduits to her family history.

From the start, Shafroth has put personal relationships and fair-trade principles at the forefront of her business: for her, collaboration with Indian artisans isn’t a gimmick but a means of working with the best of the best. “I don’t see [my clothing line] as helping people,” she says. “It’s an exchange. I also love seeing the transition of something that’s traditionally thought of as private becoming something worn in public.” When a customer first sees a Lily Forbes robe, there’s an immediate and palpable intimacy: everything from the weaver’s practice to the designer’s childhood memories come to life. “That’s where the allure lies,” Shafroth says. “It’s all about the emotional connection.” h