Designed by fate

Visual feast

A psychoanalyst, it was by accident that Nikasha discovered her talent for designing.
A young, but experienced fashion designer, she had an interest in arts and craft since her childhood. Slowly, this interest shaped into a successful career and in 2006, she launched her label and entered the fashion industry with a bang.

Fashion designing, she says, was what fate had planned for her. “This career was pre-destined. I had to attend a friend’s wedding but had nothing nice to wear for the occasion, so I decided to design my own attire. This surprisingly caught everyone’s attention. I met another designer at the same wedding who asked me to design a few clothes and display them in her store,” recalls Nikasha. A journey that began there has covered many milestones now.

A self-trained designer, it is history that inspires her. Her new collection, ‘Indira et Amrita’ is inspired by the Shergill sisters — Amrita and Indira — renowned artists of the 20th century.

She says, “This collection is an interpretation of the imagined life of the sisters — Indira and Amrita — had they been alive today. I am looking forward to showcasing a visual representation of a whole new way of life — a life of progressive modernity, leisure and luxury.”

A fascinating combination of East and West, she has woven together the characteristics of the sisters to create inspiring outfits.

The highlights of the collection include art deco elements like chic geometrical patterns of the valleys, scallops and cherry blossom prints.

 She explains, “My designs are contextual. I like to call them beautiful clothes. They are basic and functional. I love black and white and they are dominant in most of my designs.” With flamboyant colours, her recent collection has silhouettes that range from low-waist flapper inspired jumpsuits to bias cut double-tiered sari-inspired tops, cowl pants with strappy tops, fringed kimono and gathered ‘sharara’ pants etc.

With delightful juxtaposition of ethnic and contemporary in her designs, she says her career has been a learning graph with many challenges.

Describing a major challenge, she adds, “This was during the launch of my debut collection. The launch was to happen on March 2006 but I met with an accident at that time and injured my head and spine. The doctors advised me two years of complete rest. But I overcame my injuries and launched my collection in October the same year. It was a proud moment as nothing went wrong. This was definitely a stepping stone to my success.”

She has associated herself with the Indian handloom industry as well and imbibes ‘ramdhani’, ‘Banares’ among other works in her designs. Commenting on the “evolving fashion” in the City, she says, “The market in Bengaluru is a bit slow when compared to other cities. Still, it is encouraging.”