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Exclusive: Nikita Mhaisalkar’s FDCI X LFW vibrant collection was an idea born during gloomy COVID 19 days
Ace designer Nikita Mhaisalkar’s collection named ‘Canvas’ presented at the ongoing FDCI X LFW has a personal tale stuck to it. Read on to know more.
Luxury fashion designer, Nikita Mhaisalkar has an innate taste of fashion and has always been able to impress the fashion pundits and her contemporaries with her fresh and unique designs. Despite no formal training in fashion designing, this Nagpur-based designer has garnered accolades for her marvellous creations. She presented her new resort wear collection titled Canvas on Day 4 at the ongoing FDCI X Lakme Fashion Week and stole our hearts with her beautiful and pleasant creations. Bold stripes, dripping Aztecs and signature abstract embroidery art complimented Mhaisalkar’s bold and luxurious collection of glam resort ensembles. We got a scope of everything about her new collection, her take on trends of today and the importance of making fashion inclusive.
Firstly, your recent collection at FDCI X LFW was a breath of fresh air and all things trendy. What was your inspiration behind this enchanting collection?
The collection is full of colours and vibrancy. The idea was seeded in my mind during a tough phase of my life when I was tested Covid positive and was just surrounded by paints and canvas. To beat those gloomy days and anxiety, all I could do was to paint things bright and cheerful which reflected very well in my collection titled ‘canvas’. Liquid drips of paints, abstract strokes of expression filled my canvas and I drew my inspiration from the new colours of joy and hope the world is waking up to.
Co-ordinated sets are in trend for a while now and your new collection just proved it’s here to stay. What other trends do you think will dominate in the coming years?
Of course, co-ord sets are becoming a high new trend and I think it's because they are a fresh fashion statement that makes sure you aren’t overdressed or underdressed and fits well for all occasions. Co-ordinated sets are not just limited to pants and shirts or suits now, it has extended to ethnic silhouettes like lehengas and evening wear where these matchy-matchy sets have redefined style.
And the next big trend, I think, would be the prints! Prints have always been a strong part of the Indian fashion industry and I believe in the coming days, prints are going to make strong statements in weddings, conference rooms and resorts and vacations.
Picking the right colour palette for a collection is never an easy task. Could you share a bit about the process that went behind in creating the fresh mix of colours?
It's so important to choose the absolutely right colour palette for one’s collection as people of this generation have become well aware of the WGSN trends and about the fashion circuit of the world. My process is very simple. I always chose to go with my instincts first. You see, the gut feeling never betrays you! I also do extensive research on trends and also try to incorporate fashion worldwide by not just blindly following it but by bringing my own tweak to it. We always try to come out with colour palettes that not only suit Indian clients but my major foreign clients too.
While most designers are keen on having a celebrity showstopper to help them reach out to a wider range of audiences, what is your take on not having one and letting the designs speak for itself?
I am not against having a celebrity show stopper. It for sure adds up to the glam quotient of your collection and creates a buzz. It's purely subjective and each to its own. But I’ve started to think that what’s the point of having a celebrity show stopper? Wanting your designs to speak in a broad sense means wanting your designs to sell and I don’t think a lot of people would be able to relate to a celebrity wearing a garment and then imagining themselves in it. Every outfit has its own story to tell, making an outfit look good only by putting it on a celebrity is not something that's in my brand’s language for now.
How successful have you been in exploring the scope of plus size clothing and making fashion inclusive?
We have been working with plus size silhouettes ever since the beginning. We do a major chunk of designs suiting all body types and over the last 15 years, we’ve been retailing 85 percent of our sales towards the plus-size category in both India and abroad. I don’t even think of models as plus size or zero-size, differences are to be embraced and fashion can do a lot to make one feel happy about their uniqueness. Over the years we have managed to carve a niche for the plus-size market with our kaftans, oversized pantsuits and co-ord sets and I‘m really proud of it!
What would be that one trend of today that you find to be boring and over-hyped?
I think tie and dye should take a rest for now. It’s quite over and done and hyped to a level that it has become boring now. I feel like tie-dye is overused and abused to such an extent that it has lost its beauty of being the traditional Indian craft that it used to be!
What are your thoughts on Nikita Mhaisalkar’s chic collection? Tell us in the comments below.
