Raishma Talks About her Indian Adventure

After designing and sketching new ideas for next season, it was finally time for me to curate the collection and hop on a plane to India. I had to mentally prepare myself for a busy few days visiting factories, sourcing fabrics in the bazaars and indulging in some traditional Indian street food. Six days to fly to two cities and attend Lakme Fashion Week! My eventful and busy schedule started in Delhi straight off the plane and straight to my first destination. I went from work shop to work shop, designing new pieces at every factory, sourcing and selecting new fabrics and working on new prints and embroidery techniques with the experts.  For the new collection I wanted to add more variety to each product range, so with this in mind I worked on the new colour palette for 2014/15. I wanted to create different cuts and silhouettes long and short, still in keeping with our signature Raishma style. I visited Satya Suman to see his new ideas, between you and me I can't wait to have his new range online! Look out for stunning dresses and kaftans from this talented designer in the next coming months.

In 72 hours, I visited seven of the workshops I work with and travelled over 200 miles, enjoying Delhi traffic at its best!!

Catching one of the early flights, I flew on the 8am from Delhi to Mumbai, arriving in Mumbai for 10am. After freshening up at my friend’s house we headed straight for Lakme Fashion Week. With a set idea of what I wanted to achieve, I was able to attend a selection of fashion shows from designers such as Varun Bahl to LoveBirds in just 48 hours which I have written about in our Lakme Fashion Week blog.  We finished each evening post fashion show all fuelled with the buzz from Lakme. Dining at the Tapan restaurant at Juhu Beach was a fitting ending after long day. Back to business with my final day in Mumbai being spent filled with designing the new collection, from sarees to long tunics and trousers.

I arrived back on British soil on the 26^th August tired but exhilarated; the trip was demanding but fun and I loved designing with the fabrics and embroideries around me, that’s the best bit of my job!

Watch out for the new collection!!!