Miss Manipur won't be possible without fashion designers like Arbin Tonjam

Marjing Mayanglambam *

Arbin Tonjam at Miss Manipur 2022

Manipur, besides being the powerhouse of sports and land of culture, has also another profession which is somehow not brought up to the limelight for long. The profession, none other than fashion designing needs more consideration and support from the public.

One can easily identify who is Miss Manipur or Miss Pineapple or even the man or woman who acts in a beautiful musical album of Manipur. Of course, the dresses and clothing adorned by these personalities get the focus of all the eyes watching but those who designed those creative clothing are not very much given significant importance.

Arbin Tonjam, a young graduate from Thangapat Mapal is the only son of Pushparani and Rajen. He grew up seeing his mother making Phanek (Manipuri women sarong). He secretly learnt the art of making Phanek and loved the process.

After the completion of his 10th class, he went to see various senior fashion designers of Manipur and saw all the processes and steps of making clothes and new designs.

He finally got to start making his own costume and clothes after he passed his 12th class. After gaining sufficient knowledge of the art of making and designing dresses, Arbin did his debut design work for international folk singer Mangka Mayanglambam.

Arbin Tonjam at Miss Manipur 2022

Eventually, he got acquainted with various other well-known actors like Soma Laishram and RK Sushant and did various designing for others too. He also had a close professional relationship with Makeup artist Nepolean Top. He finally started working for the line of film and music albums too.

Arbin bagged the best designer at Manfete Queen 2018, Best National Costume 2019 at Mrs Icon World held in Mumbai and recently the best designer at Miss Manipur 2022.

Now, Arbin’s dream has come true by opening his own boutique at Keishampat Junction near Manipur Rural Bank. At this boutique, he has organized several training sessions where many new individuals having an interest in the field of fashion design have joined and learnt well.

Appreciation of fashion designers will surely encourage them to create more wonderful new designs in the future and there will be a need for more support from the government and any institutions related to designing.

Arbin has achieved some of his dreams without being known by many and there will be other such designers like him who are not known and in some cases who have left their profession due to lack of funding and recognition.

Let us support them too and not just the individuals who won the Miss Manipur title.