QUEEN’S ROAD: Payal Pratap is no stranger to the fashion industry and her body of work speaks for itself. She was in Bengaluru recently to showcase her new collection at the Karnataka Fashion Week and spoke to City Express about her journey in the fashion world.
She graduated from NIFT, Delhi in 1994 and worked in the export industry for a few years where she was exposed to international designs, interacted with designers with different sensibilities and participated in trade shows and fests.
She quit her job later to join her husband, Rajesh Pratap Singh who was setting up his label then. For 15 years she worked as his assistant. She was involved in every aspect of his business, whether it was marketing, sales, merchandising, production or commercialising his collection for retail.
In 2010, she began feeling that she had missed out on something. Payal says,“I was beginning to feel that I had missed the design part of my journey.” She didn’t want any regrets later in her life that she didn’t venture out to satisfy her own creative urges.
But when she decided to create her own identity, she felt the pressure far more than any other young designer fresh from college because she was already a known face in the industry. However the response and encouragement she received from publications, journalists, and most importantly the market, was tremendous.
Her brand today specialises in creating a modern Indian line in rich and vibrant colours for today’s urban women.
Payal says,“I love colour. I’m not scared of colour.” She feels that people should not be shy of working with bright colours. “Life is a celebration. For me, it has to be about women wanting to get out of their moulds and enjoying a myriad colours and adorning them.”
Her clientele are women like herself who are modern, independent, free spirited and willing to experiment.
Payal revels in the fact that she has 20 years of experience and that time of learning has made her design journey enjoyable and easy. She is not fazed by stress and the demands of the business now as she knows just how to handle it all. She says that a designer’s job is much more than creating a sample and feels that it is important to keep tabs on everything that happens in the process.
Payal has created her own niche and identity in the four years since her label was launched.
Says she, “I enjoy what I do. For anybody who is in the creative line, if you enjoy what you do you can work late hours and create what you are meant to.” Payal Pratap’s store is located at The Collonade, Leela Palace in Bangalore.