Design Student From Odisha All Set For Milan Fashion Week
People who start young often achieve success in life. This is true for Nimeshika Vemulakonda, a 22-year-old fashion designing student who is all geared up to exhibit her work at the Milan Fashion Week 2020.
As kids, we love to play dress-up and fashion makeover with friends. For Nimeshika, it wasn’t any different. In fact, this made her fall head over heels with fashion. Apart from bagging the ‘The Best Collection’ and ‘The Best Degree Project’ award at, Symbiosis Institute of Design, her alma mater, she has also interned at RAAS, Bhubaneshwar where she was mentored by Designer Pritam Panda and Rashmi Mohapatra to design and create accessories using leftover Odisha Ikat textiles. She has also interned with VH1 Supersonic and STOREWALK, a startup company. An alumnus of DAV Public School, Nimeshika has won the title of “Next Gen Emerging Talent” at the Asian Designer Week 2019.
Nimeshika’s diverse design projects are inspired by perfumes, fragrances, The Bermuda Triangle, textures and many more. One is based on the applique craft of Pipili, a small town situated near Puri. Nimeshika says, “For my craft documentation project, I was lucky to have chosen Pipili as my subject. We had to document the entire craft from how it’s made to the people who are making it and the wage they are getting from it. We took a close look at the lifestyle of people living in Pipili.” Blending the authentic craft of Pipili with their own imagination, gave Nimeshika and her team member Meetali Sikhwal, the lead to design a collection which would cater to the younger generation.
“As you know, the colours used for garments are very vibrant and our motto was to make it appealing to the youth who prefer subtle and basic colours,” she says. According to her, the sole purpose of the collection was to show the contrasting lifestyle of people living in Pipili, a colourful village where people lead dull and insipid lives.
Nimeshika feels Odisha has a lot to offer in terms of art and craft. “The future of these art forms lies in the hands of the youth who should try to preserve and protect it before they are lost in the mists of time. The key to preserving these art forms through fashion is to quirk up the style a bit. These 20-25-year-olds may not like wearing traditional outfits. But when the same traditional design is turned into something more comfortable and subtle, then it catches their attention,” she says.
Nimeshika wishes to open her own brand in future and work under Shivan and Narresh, and Rahul Mishra, a renowned fashion designer based in Delhi.
She feels not many youngsters get the chance to showcase their talent at a bigger platform. Being a fashion student, Nimeshika wants to change people’s notion that the fashion industry is glamorous and very casual. “We are always told that students of fashion do not struggle much and success comes easy due to our profession. This is not at all true,” she adds.
Her passion for fashion has helped Nimeshika succeed at a young age. And she can’t wait to display this zeal at the Milan Fashion Week.