Hubballi :
The demise of her grandfather last week was a big personal loss for this 23-year-old. “Though girls are supposed to get married early in the Marwadi community, my grandfather Ramvilas Mahajan, who passed away last week, used to encourage me to achieve my goal,” recalls a teary eyed Shruti Mahajan.
Shruti, who claims to be the first fashion designer-entrepreneur of Hubballi, featured in Kerala Fashion League-2015 where she met James Ferreira, one of the leading fashion designers in the country and founder of James Ferreira designer label. The event was held in Ernakulam last month.
Speaking to TOI, Shruti said that it was amazing to meet icons of Indian fashion designing industry about whom she had read in textbooks. “It was an occasion to meet designers like Aslam Khan, Sanjana. Tamil actress Kalyani was the showstopper for my designs,” she says.
Shruti completed BSc in fashion and apparels from Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology, Bengaluru, in 2014. She floated Conch Designs Studio in June 2014 and had been creating awareness on fashion design in tier-II cities like Hubballi.
“In the beginning, it was very difficult to convince people about fashion design. I patiently convinced them by saying: ‘give me any kind of girl or woman, irrespective of physical fitness, fairness and complexion, I will make her beautiful’,” she says.
Waseem Bahadur, proprietor of an event management company in Hubballi, says that Shruti has the sense of painting and craftwork which shows in her designs. “She is the lone fashion designer in Hubballi who has taken fashion designing as an entrepreneurial venture. She upholds Indian culture and tradition in clothing and also meets the requirement of young generation by designing Indo-Western and Western designs,” he adds.
Shruti has provided employment to five skilled artisans from Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad. She received the “Best Costume Award’ in a show organized by Ramesh Dembla for the promotion of “Desi Boys”. She has also exhibited her designs in events like Metro Life Fashion Show, War of Designers, corporate fashion show organized by Infosys in Mysuru.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hubballi / by Sangamesh Menasinakai, TNN / June 10th, 2015