Deepa Reddy curates designer clothes for women of all ages, and each piece is handpicked with no replicas. From the untouched seven-yard look to the jacket over a sari look, her designers work with local craftsmen in every state to tell the story of the changing times and styles of the women of India. The founder of Open Trunk says they are the first online portal to offer designer clothes for ages till 80, for occasions big and small, both in the international and the Indian calendar.
Open Trunk is a multi-designer fashion brand that works with established and upcoming designers from across India, giving them a platform to create an identity for themselves by showcasing their unique designs. The brand completed two years and opened their first brick and mortar store (vintage style) in the upfront Koramangala area of Bengaluru in December 2017.
Recently, they showcased their new collection at the Lakme Fashion Week, where designers such as Jayanti Reddy, Raj Shrof, Jyoti Sachdev, Bhramini Reddy, Anjali Sharma, and others participated. Deepa says, “We believe rather than opening more stores, we should concentrate on taking the brand to a larger audience through pop-ups.”
A woman with an eye for detail, Deepa spent many hours searching for that one place that celebrates design, textile and Indian fashion without the hefty price tag. Open Trunk was born out of the desire to offer people a place for that perfect, tailormade fit in stylish Indian clothes, exquisite silver jewellery and hand-crafted footwear, to complete any look.
At Open Trunk, they showcase some of the signature traditional weaves, styles and hand work, of the various states from north to south.“We curate our collection keeping a really wide age range in mind. For the elderly, we curate collections with lighter colours, fabrics which are easy to drape and are stylish while being practical. Our mantra is choose wisely and customise for specific requirement keeping comfort as the key factor. Our repeat customers are our biggest testimony that says we must be doing something right,” says the founder.
She adds that designs once sold are not duplicated. “All the designers associated with us have been commissioned to create a special line. We have provided a unique platform for young and talented designers—even those fresh out of college,” Deepa says. The brand allocates funds to budding designers to create designs exclusively which is sold under the Adiriti brand. “Our regular designers are Urvashi Joneja, Punit Balana, Anjali Sharma, Gossip, and Amrapali. They are all established names. We are going to launch new designers while offering the budding designers an opportunity to design for our private label, Adiriti.”
According to Deepa, something that comes very easily to her is putting together a look for women pertaining to the occasion, their age and personal styles. Her passion for perfection is what drives her to seek out designers with a strong sense of the ‘self’ to curate a signature style which is unique. Together, their love for promoting the Indo-Western and Indian style is what keeps their platform fresh, chic yet traditional.
She says, “As a multi-designer platform, we sell many different labels. Some of the more popular designers are the ones who have got the value proposition just right. In terms of products, draped dresses and saris are very popular.”
The brand symbolises all that is quintessentially Indian yet modern, keeping in mind trends across the world and the age spectrum. The portal aims to make available the best of the Indian and the Indo-Western clothing to both the young and the old. Here’s to stylish times!