What goes into creating a perfect life? A tremulous pink orchid undulating in an asymmetrical glass vase? 

Textured pink walls dotted with pottery from Thailand, mirrors from Rajasthan and tiles inspired by a Goan church? A children’s room with baby scrawls on the walls? Two suspended paper lamps glowing green and blue in a becalming guest bed room? Plum velvet and delicious cushions on a sprawling futon? Gold dust on a black silk tunic?

Brinda Hayward’s life is a sum of all this and more. It is perfect because she wills it to be so. Her home and the clothes she designs (racks of which spill into her lime-green dining room!) are all about the stuff she was given by life and what she made of it. Like all happy stories, hers is confoundingly simple. She was working with Air France when she saw a strangely familiar stranger “talking to some women’’ in a Delhi club. She did not know the American but wanted to and so moved in his line of vision. The rest of the story played out like a favourite song you suddenly hear on the radio and sing along. Only in her case, she is still singing six years later. The man was Charles Hayward and after the two got married, he decided to make India his home. “I guess, after he met me, he began to like India a bit more!’’ smiles Brinda. The two lived in New Delhi for a few years and have been in Bangalore for some time now where Charles works with a real-estate development company.

Brinda is a bit hazy about the exact nature of his work but insists that finally, the two feel at home in their 2,700 square ft home in Indira Nagar. It was a typical home but together they have made it atypical, despite the gaudy pink chandelier that hangs in the living room, (which they have not had the heart to take down because the landlord was so happy putting it up!) “We lived in a flat and liked it but I wanted a more open space for the kids to grow up!’’ says Brinda.

Ideas that fit

Daughter Ayana and son Kavin inspired Brinda to create Ayka, her own fashion  label. Like everything else in her life, her vocation as a designer also came her way by chance. She loved clothes. Has always loved them but could never find off-the-rack styles to match her exacting taste so began designing her own wardrobe.

“I never found the kind of clothes I like. The halters did not fit and low backs were really low! The concept of evening wear is still not fully developed. The stores either have skimpy, western wear or really heavily-embroidered Indian dresses. When I began to design my clothes, friends and acquaintances began to ask from where I had sourced them,’’ she says.

Soon the orders came trickling in. “Women want to wear contemporary styles without looking undignified. If I design halters, I make sure they fit the person who will wear them.’’      

Looking good, explains she, is not  a casual matter of throwing things together. “What may look good on a rack may not look good on you. Your skin tone and body type should agree with the colour and cut of a fabric. A heavily embellished suit can do nothing for you but a simple linen dress can look fabulous. You must know what looks good on you and the simpler you keep your clothes, the better.’’

Makeovers

There is a reason why she is helping women with wardrobe makeovers starting from lounge wear to formals because everyone, she says, “now wants to look good even when they are at home in their casuals.’’

From her capacious garage, her team of tailors now churn out frothy, empire line dresses, slim waisted shirt dresses in silks and cottons, tunics, skirts,  long and short dresses that can be worn by women over 25 and even women who are in their playful 40s. The fabrics vary from luxe fabrics such as brocade to linens, voiles and crepes and detailing is done through pin tucks, asymmetrical cuts and occasional sprays of embroidery.

“I like warm colours,’’ she says explaining the blushing walls, the rich furnishings. “I like rotating things and often move furniture around,’’ she adds.  At the end of the interview, when Brinda sits down to look back at the moment when it all began, a sudden smile lights up her face. She chuckles, “My husband still does not know that I saw him first and went purposely to where he was to look at him!’’ The song that began then is still playing all around Brinda Hayward.           

Brinda can be contacted at Aykadesigns@yahoo.com