HYDERABAD: Actress-turned-fashion designer says her love for fashion is courtesy Sridevi Kapoor. Maheshwari Ayyappan, Tollywood actress chose to move away from her comfort zone, acting, and ventured into doing what she was passionate about. She ventured into fashion designing with her label ‘Mahe Ayyappan’. “I have chosen evening gowns as my unique selling proposition, as I think that there are a very few designers who focus on that. Apart from that I also like designing sarees. I enjoy designing both Indian and western outfits,” says the designer.
After making a mark in Tollywood with films like Gulabi, moving to designing was no less challenging for her. “I feel acting was a lot easier as there I just had to recite the lines framed in the script. But here I have to be at my creative best to be able to come up with design for the outfit,” she says.
Mentioning about her association with the art before launching her own brand, she has been designing dresses for friends, family and her aunt - Sridevi Kapoor, “My aunt encouraged me to come up with my own brand. I used to spend time with her and learnt more about colour, comfort, cuts and other technical aspects of designing,” she reveals.
A lot of research goes into updating oneself with latest trend and bringing it into their designs she says while adding, “I read books and observed designs over dresses to update myself.”
Maheshwari, who thinks Indian fashion industry has undergone a lot of changes in last 10 years says, “It’s not only Indians, but people from other countries have also started wearing Indian designs now.”
Talking about what’s in trend right now and what should people look for while shopping she says, “Pastel colours like peach, yellow would with floral prints would look good for day wear and various shades of greens, crimson, burgundy would be good if one is looking for night wears.” Comfort should be given priority,” she stresses.
About embroidery, she says the usage of it depends on the outfit. “It should be subtle.” Though she has been designing clothes only for Sridevi, she says, “I would love to design for other actors as well.”