When you think of India and when you think of fashion designers, a couple will pop into your head. Usual game players like Manish Malhotra, Sabyasachi and Ritu Kumar seem to be on everyone’s minds and mouths — from our mum’s age group, to our friends’ age group. But who’s winning the game right now? Labels such as Kresha Bajaj are not spoken about — and they ought to be seen and acknowledged by the entire Indian diaspora.

In an honest conversation with Masala!’s Editor, Fashion Designer Krésha Bajaj opens about how the Bollywood industry and Fashion industry in India are so intertwined, — and what as a Designer sets her apart from others.

Q: I’d love for you to give me a casual breakdown of your professional self and guide us through your target audience and what age group you design for, mainly?

Krésha Bajaj: My journey with fashion started at a very young age where I would experience fine tailoring and the fight for perfection looking at my father run his tailoring brand ‘Badasaab’.

I instantly took interest in designing and knew that was my calling. Since then I have been extremely attracted to everything to do with cloth and thread and transforming my mind to paper and paper to reality.

I channel this passion, and so I decided to study the technicalities of fashion. Over the span of 8 years, I studied in some of the world’s most distinguished fashion colleges including London College of Fashion, Parsons in New York and Paris and Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, before deciding to return home to Mumbai.

Diving into the industry head on, I launched my e-commerce website, Koëcsh, a brand with no name or face associated with it and was soon invited to showcase my collection at Lakmé Fashion Week, which garnered a lot of appreciation for being avant-garde and unique. As the years passed by, my designs started to evolve as did I.

After a long, grueling experience looking for bridal wear, I decided to create my own wedding outfits. Looking back at my relationship with my then fiancé (now husband) and how we met, I wanted to share our love story and what better way than to make it permanent on my wedding lehenga, fondly known as ‘the love story lehenga.’

Having garnered a lot of attention worldwide around the bridal lehenga, with my experience and knowledge, I decided to create bridal collections for what I discovered that real women want: effortless and fresh wearable pieces delivered with fine craftsmanship. The birth of Krésha Bajaj the brand – from fabrics to embroidery and textures to colors, each piece of clothing tells its own story with the utmost care in detailing and finishing. A perfectionist with an impeccable eye for beautiful things, I truly aim to maintain a standard that will be timeless.

Krésha Bajaj the store launched in Bandra in November 2018 – an ode to all things beautiful, mysterious with a splash of fantasy. And the Homme label launched in November 2022.

Q: I’ve seen that you displayed a very gothic collection called ‘Koëcsh’ by Krésha Bajaj in 2013. Can you tell us a bit of your formative years as a Fashion Designer?

Krésha Bajaj: My collections and creations have always reflected the head space I was in. Moving back to the city, I was still in a somewhat rebellious phase where I felt the need to constantly express my emotions through my dressing. As I mentioned above Koëcsh was my beginning – I wanted a brand with no name, and no face. A brand that broke all the norms and rules to prove to myself that I had what it took to make it in this Industry. Eventually that need to constantly prove myself turned into confidence which allowed me to evolve and my brand did too.

Q: Like Sabyasachi has Indian bridal wear, Manish Malhotra’s signature is Bollywood costume wear lehengas, Shubhika’s niche from Papa Don’t Preach is funky Indian wear, what would you say Kresha Bajajs’ niche is?

Krésha Bajaj: Intricate and timeless handcrafted pieces that will last for generations to come. We still use the ancient techniques of embroidery and beading which are very hard to come by in the modern world. Quality and detailing are the two most important things to us… and of course we are also known for our beautiful love story pieces which now we also do in our Homme brand.

Q: We all know how much fashion and Bollywood are interlinked in India. What do you have to say about this, as a Fashion Designer first, and then an Entrepreneur?

Krésha Bajaj: Celebrities and influencers do play a huge role in fashion. However, with our audience we’ve come to realize that they might not always want to get something that has previously been worn by a celebrity. With social media being so fast paced today, people make an effort to ensure that what they get is ‘unique’ and personalized to themselves. It could be something as simple as changing a color but it still makes it one of a kind for them.

Q: Your designs have quite the detailing any Indian, or even non-Indian as a matter of fact can identify and appreciate. Have you ever thought of diving into designing for films?

Krésha Bajaj: “I am a firm believer of slow fashion and have been practicing the same ever since we launched our label. We have released collections once a year and if you look back to all those collections you will see that they are as relevant today as they were when we made them. I mention this because I want the pieces to sustain, to last, to be passed down, to be trend-less. That was how the love story lehenga came into being!

So when we talk about designing for films, I would love to do a period piece or something extremely intricate where the costumes would then be donated or displayed. The thought of creating something that would be disposed of or kept away sort of terrifies me!”

Q: Who do you think in Indian fashion is winning the game right now?

Krésha Bajaj: So, winning could be regarded in so many ways for me.

There’s Anita Dongre who has the perfect formula for doing anything and everything right. There’s Vaishali Shadangule who has killed it at Paris fashion week and then there’s the amazing girls at ‘The Jodi Life’ who are winning with their marketing, communication and emailers. I think the sheer amount of tenacity you need to keep your business afloat in today’s world, you don’t have a choice but to kill or ‘win’ at it!

Q: I have been a personal fan of your ‘Acropora’ collection ever since I saw it’s behind the scenes. What was the concept behind it? Can you take us through your design journey and production process?

Krésha Bajaj: The first time I took a dive into the deep ocean was on my honeymoon, I was completely mesmerized as I went down, the vivid colors and textures, translucency and the creatures really inspired me. I had already started visualizing my pieces underwater and on coming back to my hotel I started to sketch silhouettes that I had found inspiration for underwater. Since that time, most of my inspiration comes to me from my diving experiences. The collection, Acropora was in the making for about 2 years before I decided to launch it with my show in December last year. The story of this collection started when I went for a dive to Raja Ampat and started putting down my discoveries from the dive into silhouettes. Every outfit from this collection is inspired by one of my diving experiences and with the help of over 500 3rd generation karigars and different techniques like printing the sea life on silk organza, draping, structure, details of reflective glass beading, zardosi and many more. I was able to translate a vivid range of colors, from corals to the darker shades that you see as you go deeper into the sea and details from the underwater world creatures like sea horses, jellyfish, seahorses, crabs, fish, manta rays, sharks, turtles and many more. If you look closely you will see a reef unfolding in every silhouette.

Q: Is there any artist/ designer you look up to from the Middle-Eastern community, who you’d like to work with in the future?

Krésha Bajaj: I absolutely adore Abdulla Elmaz who is a Dubai based photographer and would love to work with him at some point.

Q: Tell us, when is the label reaching Dubai? You could potentially have a great market here!

Krésha Bajaj: We actually had a lot of plans to launch pre-pandemic but had to unfortunately put them on hold. We will however be there this year at some point and eagerly looking forward to it!

Q: Would you ever think of doing a high fashion x high street capsule collection?

Krésha Bajaj: Absolutely, I would love to do some fun collaborations or capsule collections depending on the quality and sustainability of the products, as that is our brand’s top most priority.