Fashion for Good: NIFD Founder Vanita Thakur Gives Back to Society

In India, local fashion changes with every passing kilometer. We boast a wide range of textiles, drapes, artisanal design, etc which is unparalleled in the world. Fashion is the beating heart of India’s colourful landscape. It is no surprise then that it inhabits every sphere of our lives including giving back to the very societies it drapes. Here steps in Vanita Thakur, Jammu’s veteran fashion educationist who has a long history of using fashion to impact change.

Born into an Army family, Vanita Thakur did her schooling from Loreto Convent, New Delhi and completed her masters in English Literature from Panjab University. Over the years, as she traveled from state to state, she experienced India and its vast cultural heritage. Dyes being pressed onto fabrics, threads being woven together, needles piercing into cloth to make colourful embroidery: everything fascinated a young Vanita.

On completing her studies she began teaching at Kendriya Vidhyalaya in the late 1980s with her first posting being in the beautiful Kasoli. While she started teaching students in Kindergarten, she eventually taught older students subjects like Biology and English. For her, building a rapport with the students was something she made a conscious effort of and was glad it came to fruition. Her unique style of teaching also clicked with the students. She would teach them uninterrupted for 30 minutes and use the remaining 10 minutes to converse about real world issues students face in an attempt to help them groom themselves, build their confidence and self esteem. “It is the responsibility of the organizations that impart education to shape the curriculum in a way that creates well-rounded students beyond just textbooks.


Driven by the want to preserve the vast art forms, embroideries and crafts of India, Vanita Thakur dived into the world of fashion head first. Thakur founded the National Institute of Fashion Designing (NIFD) Jammu in 1997 with the intent of giving youth a platform in the field of fashion and interior design.

“When we started, the uphill task was educating parents about the difference between being a designer and being a darzi,” she says when asked about the challenges of opening a Fashion and interior design institute in the late 90s adding, “a lot has changed since then as people understand the profession better now.” 25 years on, her work continues to leave indelible marks not only in the world of fashion but also for the causes she has chosen over the years. For Thakur, “breaking through barriers and sustaining” is a key driver in the fashion industry. “Once you become a designer, how you take yourselves forward and deal with clients plays a crucial role in shaping our journey as a fashion designer.”


This, she believes, can be achieved by being creative and understanding the pulse of the times. For Thakur, seeing fashion in everything shows that one has an inclination towards the field. Taking love for fashion and shaping it into solving real world problems whether it is dressing a client for a big day or using fashion for a good cause is the essence of being a fashion designer.

Over the years, Thakur witnessed India’s ups and downs choosing fashion as the salve to many of the country’s problems. In the year 1999, as the Kargil War broke out, Thakur, like the rest of the country, decided to contribute to war efforts by fundraising through an innovative method: a Fashion show to raise funds for the Army. A fashion event for charity of that scale had not been witnessed in J&K prior to that. The then Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, was the chief guest on the occasion. The event ended up raising 19 Lacs for the nation and its brave soldiers. For context, that amount when adjusted for inflation, would be approximately a whopping Rs 80 Lacs today (as per the Inflation calculator by Scripbox).



The event only kick started Thakur’s many initiatives to give back to society. Wielding NIFD as the foundation for the youth’s aspirations in the design world, she sponsors 2 children at the SOS Shelter Homes for diploma courses at NIFD. She also platforms budding designers from Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh on the myriad of fashion shows she coordinates. In 2018, she organized Jammu’s first ever National level fashion show called “Jammu Fashion Week.” The event’s first season saw 20 designers from J&K demonstrate their talent on a national scale.

In the middle of the pandemic too, Vanita Thakur actively worked to give back to society and to uplift those who had been negatively harmed by the COVID outbreak. Thakur participated in ‘Fulkari — a festival of colours,’ a fashion show organized by the Jammu tourism board to promote the city’s arts and crafts. This further helped shine light on the handicrafts and tourism industry of Jammu thereby providing much needed limelight and financial support to the industries.



Vanita Thakur continues to be a strong advocate for the youth and believes that the old must be brought along with the new. An ardent supporter of evolving ourselves, she believes that fashion design — much like everything else in life — keeps on changing and it is important to learn with the times. For her, dying art forms like Basohli Art need to be preserved and the preservation of the same should be led by the youth. “Teaching children dying art forms is integral to keeping them alive for generations to come. We have a long way to go and must keep the wheel of advancement moving forward,” she says, hopeful that the youth will embrace fashion and charity the same way she has.
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