A Different Canvas

ISSUE: 132

Mrunalini Rao’s eponymous label offers clothing ranging from luxurious bridal wear that resembles works of art to a sustainable prêt line that is her contribution to reducing waste

How do Indian crafts influence your designs?

MR: I love Indian crafts and I want to explore as many as possible through my work. My love for Indian crafts increased while I was studying all the crafts across India during my years at design school, and that’s one reason why I like designing bridal wear. A majority of my design work is based on craftsmanship and we use many crafts together in one design. We have craftsmen from different states coming together to create surfaces.

Tell us about your design philosophy.

MR: I do not want to make clothes in any one certain way and call it my style. I want to make something new every season, every time. Whether people recognize it as mine or not, I do not intend to maintain a common thread or have my own style. The style could be the way we design, but not the design itself. Each one is different. But I do believe that I want to make art pieces. I want to treat the fabric and silhouette as my canvas and place something beautiful there. I want to mix up techniques and layer them to come up with new surfaces – to add contemporary elements to traditional wear.

How do you market and distribute your products?

MR: We retail our products through multi-designer stores in almost all the capital cities in India, and in London and the USA. We also sell through multi-designer websites and our own website. We have a flagship store in Hyderabad, our home city. We also take part in fashion weeks, exhibitions, and wedding show to promote and retail the designs.

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