March 16, 2018 Asmita Aggarwal

Side-by-Side

A mom-daughter duo Deepa and Karishma Sodhi, hope to offer Indian women what they really need—– body shape appropriate clothing with just a dash of glam.

By Asmita Aggarwal

She is just 24, and is ready to show for the first time at the Amazon India Fashion Week, but Karishma Sodhi, who after Pearl Academy went to Parsons, New York to learn the nuances of design and draping, as well as the composition of garments is a wise head on young shoulders.

Where most designers are struggling with juggling both aesthetics and sales, Karishma luckily has that covered. She works with her mom Deepa, who looks after sales and marketing leaving the young designer to concentrate on silhouettes and their efficacy.

“My parents gave me the chance to study at the best institutes like Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, New Academy of Fine Arts, Milan also known as NABA, where I had the opportunity to style Diesel models. When I took up a course in Edinburgh, I did branding for Harvey Nichols. I understood that young people today look for comfort more than anything else and that’s what my label is focused on,” she adds.

Deepa, on the other hand, is self-taught, and she started the brand four years ago, wanting to give her daughter, who was studying at Pearl Academy at that time, the chance to launch her own brand. “We did the New York Couture Week in 2016, while Karishma was still studying in New York, which helped us both learn how to put a show together in a foreign country,” she adds.

So Ras Baari, their aut-winter 2018, luxury pret line, uses several embroidery techniques from cut dana, beads, crystals, dori work to French knots, which is intermingled with metal work on their Indian silhouettes, which range from corsets to shararas. “I think the problem with Indian women is that they want to look like clones of each other, but actually they need to understand that each body type is different, so fashion must be individual,” she explains.

deepa karishma sondhi

That’s why she has worked with a melange of hues from arcadia, lilac to lavender and coral reds as well as blush pinks. “Many women are still obsessed with celebrity style and red carpets, without understanding that we as Indians are pear shaped so we need to dress accordingly and not necessarily in gowns. And what I have observed in the last few years is that bling has lost its sheen, and now subtle is the buzzword. Keeping this in mind, we also do more tone-on-tone and monochromes for a discerning few,” she explains.

KARISHMA DEEPA SONDHI 2

Being a mother-daughter duo, Karishma and Deepa feel that the strong bond they share is their USP, as even though they disagree there is never disrespect. “There is a saying that two people are better than just one, so I must admit that I have learnt a lot from Karishma,” she concludes.

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