The young up and coming fashion designer says, "My story is deeply shaped by two cultures. My father is Indian, originally from Kerala, and my mother is an Argentine diplomat. During my childhood, my mother was posted in New Delhi as the Deputy Chief of Mission, and our family moved there together. I
lived in India for six years, between the ages of 10 and 16. Those years were incredibly formative for me and played a major role in shaping my aesthetic and creative perspective. Living in India opened my eyes to a world of textiles, color, and craftsmanship. I became fascinated by the richness of Indian fabrics, embroidery, and traditional techniques. What struck me most was the diversity of personal style that coexisted in the same place. In a single city street you could see women wearing vibrant sarees and embroidered kurtis, while others walked by in jeans and a T-shirt. Fashion felt expressive, layered, and deeply connected to culture. During those years I developed a deep appreciation for textiles and the stories they carry.
After our time in India, I returned to Argentina and finished high school in Buenos Aires in 2020. Coming back after living in such a colorful and textile-rich environment made the contrast in fashion very noticeable. In Buenos Aires, I observed that many women dressed in more neutral tones—mostly black—with simpler silhouettes. Compared to what I had experienced in India, personal style often felt more restrained and less experimental.
However, after the pandemic, I began to notice a shift. Following long months of lockdown, people seemed eager to express themselves again through clothing. There was a renewed interest in dressing well and exploring personal style, which made the fashion landscape feel more dynamic.
In 2021, I moved to the United States to study Fashion Business Management at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York. The program gave me a strong foundation in the business side of fashion, from brand development and merchandising to marketing strategy and retail management. At FIT, I learned how creative vision can be translated into a sustainable brand and how to build a fashion business from concept to market”.
With the above story, Siamara Fashion has taken off blending Indian ingredients and Argentine creativity.
Siamara’s father Thomas Francis, born in Thrissur, Kerala, calls himself as an Indo-Argentine artist. He went to Buenos Aires for textile business where he fell in love with Georgina Fernandez Destefano, an Argentine diplomat.
This is yet another example of my joke, “The biggest risk of doing business with Latin America is…falling in love”. I have dozens of such examples I quote in my lectures to Indian businessmen to motivate them to take the Latin American market more seriously.
After the marriage, Thomas left his business and became a painter.
He has held exhibitions in Denmark, US, Argentina and India during the postings of his wife in different countries. Thomas says, “My first painting, titled “Prisoners of Paradise,” reflects that stage of my life, when I felt trapped despite having a happy personal and family life. The idea developed through long conversations with other husbands of my wife’s colleagues who were experiencing similar circumstances”. Thomas has used Indian and Argentine themes such as Rangoli and foot ball in his paintings.
The young Siamara is following in the footsteps of two other Argentine fashion designers whose Indo-Argentine fusion labels have become success stories.
Monica Socolovsky of Argentina ran a Sathya Fashion brand business. As an ardent Sai Baba devotee, she had named her daughter and her brand as Sathya. She visited India three times a year to source Indian fabrics and accessories and had done over 100 visits. She exported her branded clothes to Latin America, Europe and the US. Her brand was part of the Argentine fashion scene for over four decades, I had organized an Indo-Argentine Fashion Show in 2010 ( when I was ambassador to Argentina) with her collection along with those of two Indian designers Nachiket Barve and Anita Dongre from Mumbai. Monica had passed away in 2023.
Sayana Gonzalez of Argentina, married to an Indian businessman Gaurav Gupta, has a fashion brand “deWar”. She lives in Delhi and is a member of The Fashion Design Council of India. Sayana had worked as an assistant designer, a print designer and as a production manager for a high end manufacturer in Delhi. She had inherited the brand from her grand mother who lived in Paris. https://dewarworld.com/.
I call Siamara, Monica and Sayana as the Tres Marias (in Spanish Three Marys) of Indo-Argentine fusion fashion
