Mumbai-based Anusha Lalwani’s love affair with creativity and design started when she was young. Armed with a Fine Arts degree from Ohio, her stint in the photography department of a magazine first developed her interest in wearable art. Her inability to find a distinctive clutch led her to design one herself, which garnered a lot of appreciation from friends and families. In 2008, what started as a passion project on weekends slowly gained momentum and she started designing for exhibitions and stocking in multi-designer stores.
In 2011, she quit her job to concentrate on her brand full-time and a line of luxury hand-painted bags, ‘Anusha Lalwani’, was born. The ideology of the brand is wearable art — taking the idea of art from galleries and museums, into the hands of people. Her bag line juggles fashion, art and design, with a strong play of colours and textures. Her trademark is her hand-painted canvas. Each bag is unique in shape and is created from an oil or acrylic painting.
With the belief that fashion is meant to be fun, Anusha’s clutches are light-hearted. The designs range from abstract and figurative compositions to vegetable images. In a market dominated by a dichotomy of expensive luxury brands and cheap, fast fashion, she wanted to offer women something beautiful that they could connect to, at an affordable price, while still retaining the spirit of Indian craftsmanship. “One of my major challenges was addressing the market mindset that said bling was everything. To sell artistic evening bags, which lacked sequins or bling took clever marketing. With time, people got more comfortable with the idea of accepting art as fashion”.
Her design process begins with first creating a mood board digitally. She strives to create inclusive collections that cater to all style sensibilities, while still honouring her artistic aesthetic. “The next step is to create the actual acrylic paintings. Once the painting is over, each is examined, pondered upon, and then paired with an appropriate frame, style and lining. The paintings are varnished for durability, and then sent to the artisan’s workshop for assembly. One month of painstaking handwork later, they are ready to be shipped off to stores and online portals.” While Anusha does the main designing and painting of the brand, she has a team of local artisans that works on their production.
Her edgy bags are extremely versatile, and can be used as day chic wear or for parties, perfectly complimenting most wardrobes. Accessories are bigger than ever now and a clutch/handbag is a defining element of a person’s look. “A wrong colour or size could throw off the whole look, while the correct choice will add just the right amount of visual interest, complimenting and completing the outfit. Accessorising with a statement clutch is a great way to spice up basic outfits, and keep playing mix-and-match with your closet.” Widely admired and donned by many Bollywood celebrities (Sonam Kapoor, Karishma Kapoor, Kajol), Anusha has recently gained a lot of visibility in the market. She is currently working on a collection heavily inspired by floral, Aztec influences with whimsical swirls, which is to launch soon. A lack of a formal degree in designing helps her push the boundaries, she says. “I look at problems or challenges with the same eye as a traditional designer. I am, first and foremost, an artist and a student of art. And all my innovations and solutions stem from a grounding in that world.”
