Flowers always inspire creativity — their beauty compels poets to write verses, painters take delight in sketching them and shutterbugs wait endlessly to capture the first drops of dew falling on the blooms. Mithi Kalra, who recently launched her collection Rose, says that flowers represent free spirit, charm and liveliness, hence she has carved the beauty of flowers in her designs.

Kalra, who is a recent pass-out from National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), says that she is a nature lover and has always been looking for inspiration from nature. In her recent collection, she has used a lot of red and blue hues and played around with flowers that are intricately designed and inspired from blooms like gerbera and harvest bells.
Her line includes short party dresses, flowing ball gowns and full-length cocktail dresses. Kalra shuffles between Pune and Delhi and since her mother is from Pune, her designs showcase a lot of Pune’s cultural influence. Having spent a lot of time in the city,  the Empress Botanical Garden has been her muse. Whenever she visited the garden, she imagined that a model was also standing amidst the flowers.

Kalra, who is all set to launch her store in the city, is deeply motivated by The Rose Society of Pune which came into existence in 1962 and boasts of more than a 1,000 members today. Here’s chatting up the young designer

What was your idea behind creating the collection? 

The idea behind creating this collection was comfort yet being stylish this summer season. I wanted to use elements that are subtle yet effortless, trendy yet wearable on a daily basis.

What are the colours, fabrics, cuts, patterns that you have used for this collection?

The collection is inspired by flora and fauna, mainly flowers. That is why the name of the collection is also ‘Evening primrose’. The colour palette is also inspired by the same. For fabrics, we have played with printed as well as plain organic cotton chanderi. The cuts are all classic and timeless like strap tops as well as off-shoulders, which are structured and made comfortable at the same time to give the look a perfect blend. Comfort is of utmost importance in my designs. So, whenever I sketch or put any new design, I always ask myself whether I will buy this and wear it.

While creating the collection, why did you choose specific flowers? What is their significance and are they relevant to the season?

Flowers are the most attractive and beautiful part of our mother nature. God has created some wonderful colours in nature, so why not to use them and get inspired from them? Choosing specific flowers and then dedicating every dress to a flower was my inspiration for the collection. I am a nature lover and you will see in future too, more collections inspired from flowers coming up. This time I have played with somewhat sensual cuts and patterns on delicate yet easily wearable fabrics, as is apparent in my designs.

Tell us about your inspirations.

For a designer, inspiration can come from anywhere as creativity is everywhere. My previous creation was an amalgamation of Disney princess and Madhubani Paintings (an art practised in Bihar) and other collections are inspired from mother nature. Even before designing a specific outfit, I always ask myself if these five things are present in it — elegance, modernity, festive, classic, and comfort.