Breezy Couture

She isn't your average designer, she is a powerhouse of creative curiosity, ready to take on the world of fashion to new heights. It all started when she first designed the march past uniform for her school's sports day; and that’s when she knew that fashion was route she had to take.

Her eponymous label is created for the young, sexy, modern and achieving woman. "My clothes have a character that is inherent, and not defined by either local aesthetic or global trends. They are made for confident women who are comfortable in their own skin and who are not looking for external validation," says Monisha.

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She is a player who has been around the industry since three decades and credits the youth, technology, and the ever evolving Indian fashion industry to her success. With simple and elegant silhouettes, and modern contiguity, her designs connect well with the inspirational youth of the country and their that’s willingness to experiment.

Monisha is known for redefining luxury South Asian fashion since the 90s. She believes that Indian fashion has leaped forward making its rightful place on the global map. She is of the opinion that designers worldwide borrow our embroidery and fabrics to make their collections more stark.

Her design streak has always been inspired by India, while adding an edge of contemporary style to it. Has modernism been the secret to her labels success? To this she says, "I am extremely passionate about art, music and modern architecture, but “India” has always been my strongest source of inspiration. It’s all about breaking the norms now, isn’t it? The new age brides, now prefer to have something classic yet contemporary. For a couture brand like us, it becomes necessary to cater to the new age youth and make something appealing and stunning."

Speaking of success, we all know that the fashion industry is one of the world’s most competitive and demanding businesses. And for Monisha, she balances out the creative and commercial aspect of it, with a talented design team that assists her in designing a collection. With complete R&D and a lot of behind-the-scenes action, her garments are tried, tested 4 months well before they hit the stores. Once the samples are ready by the design team she runs it through the retail team for their commercial views and get's it perfected for the consumers.

With a career so vast, she certainly has built a repertoire for herself and used surface texturing techniques from far and wide, which are well suitable for all body types and moreover provide comfort to anyone wearing her ensemble. From fabrics such as bonded wool crepe, luxurious lame, Italian silk and twisted jersey silk she has covered them all. And as far as her technique goes, she prefers using traditional zardosi, while also inducing a surface texture like macramé.

With her expertise in resort wear and versatile silhouettes, we ask her about the transition into bridal couture. " I did it for the Monisha Jaising bride who is fearless, bold, strong, comfortable in her own skin, adventurous and is up for picking up the latest trends. I have always been known for luxury resort wear and laid back glamour. I decided to venture into bridal couture with the same sensibility and there has been a huge success for the past 7 years.

Talking about a confident bride, we take the topic up a notch. Destination weddings are all the rave in today's time and with bigger destinations come bigger attire responsibilities. The modern bride knows what she wants, but the dream designer knows best for her. According to Monisha, the location is very important when it’s a destination wedding as climate plays an important factor. If it’s a beach wedding then beach friendly garments are to be picked and incase its a palace then it should be an ensemble that narrates the palace's history and should have a story.

Being a pioneer in Indian fashion and a celebrity favourite throughout; we ask the designer about her next muse and upcoming plans in the times to come. " Our aim is to dress every women achiever. And I am launching a menswear athleisure and lounge wear collection, which I am extremely excited about. Also, we have global expansion plans for MXS in the pipeline," concludes Monisha.