Designed by culture

MONISHA BAJAJ went to New York after school to join the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise in Los Angeles. After finishing her course, she worked there for two years for "Fashion Destination", then launched her designer label in New Delhi in 1996. Since then, there has been no looking back.

In the U.S., she learnt the basic and technical language and, back home, has been indulging in her love affair with Indian fabrics. After straddling two continents, Monisha feels that "the way of thinking is the same between designers across the world. Only the emphasis changes because of culture. The technology in the West is better and superior, but we are better in fabric, weaves and embroideries."

Monisha works a lot with colours and textures. She uses little embroidery in her pret a porte collection. But, in the trousseau collection, she does not shy away from using a range of embroidery. Her leitmotif is an interesting mix of the East and the West. She uses Indian textiles and patchworks with Western silhouettes, thereby being both cosmopolitan and international.

To Monisha, fashion is about belonging to an aesthetic idiom and borrowing inspiration from elements that go with her innate style and creative disposition. Essentially a classicist, she brings in the thrill of experimentalism in her design.

Fine detailing with heritage fabrics, the use of embroidery for textural enhancement and the crafty use of silhouettes are her strong point.

For this season, Monisha has concentrated on textures and colours letting embroidery take a back seat. She has used a mix of colours - burnt siennas, crimson red, and indigo blue, for the Indian outfits and a lot of greys and blacks on the Western range.

Monisha has already started working for the summer collection, for which she favours fabrics like georgettes and chiffons. "The look of the last two years has been structured but now I am looking at something more feminine and flowing." Monisha is emphatic about the fact that she makes clothes which are wearable and make a statement.

ALKA PANDE

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