For the grand finale of Lakmé Fashion Week’s Winter/Festive 2018 edition, the designer sent models sashaying down the runway, in her latest collection of party-ready ensembles. The show-stopping iridescent pleated number seen on Kareena Kapoor Khan underscored Monisha’s innate ability to effortlessly straddle timelessness and the cutting-edge. In a way, her unique aesthetic is an ode to her city, Mumbai, where she was born and today shares a home with husband Ravi and their sons Yudhishthir and Karan. In pic: Kareena Kapoor Khan walks for Monisha Jaising at Lakmé Fashion Week’s Winter/Festive 2018

After graduating magna-cum-laude from the American College of Applied Art, London and earning an honours degreee in Fashion Illustration from The Royal College of Arts, Monisha returned to Mumbai to launch her own fashion brand. “I gained a lot of hands-on knowledge in design and discovered my own peculiar interests and skills during my student years. All that training and hard work has paved the way for who I am today,” she says. But breaking into the fashion industry in the early ’90s was no mean feat even for a designer so confident in her vision. She recalls, “With social media and fashion influencers absent from the fashion ecosystem we had to rely on Bollywood movies and word-of-mouth for marketing.” In pic: Alanna Panday in Monisha Jaising's couture line for Spring/Summer 2019

Monisha’s biggest challenge and achievement has been keeping her offering consistently relevant while staying true to her brand ethos. In a way, the Indian fashion industry’s evolution has mirrored her own and being involved in the process as an insider has provided constant food for thought for the designer. “Besides modern architecture, art, music and travel, India has been my biggest source of inspiration.” This global Indian outlook has seeped into her personal style as well. It’s one she defines as “a constant dance between contemporary flair and traditional elegance,” going on to explain, “I am always experimenting with colours, silhouettes, textures and styles for work, which is invariably absorbed into my personal style too.” In pic: Lilly Singh aka Superwoman on the cover of Cosmo India, October 2018 in a top by Monisha Jaising .

In 2018, Monisha launched a new clothing line, MXS, in collaboration with friend, Shweta Bachchan Nanda. “Shweta and I have known each other for a long time, and having collaborated on several successful fashion projects in the past we decided to give our partnership a real shot with MXS.” The brand manages to pack oodles of glamour into its relaxed silhouettes—think metallic hoodies, embellished crop tops and tulle dresses—and is already a hit with young party-goers. As with all her projects, her ultimate aim with MXS too is ‘to inject the perfect amount of glam into everyday dressing.’ In pic: Monisha Jaising with Shweta Bachchan Nanda, with whom she has collaborated to found the clothing line MXS

The designer is also going beyond the brief to give back to the community with her masterclass series for young designers on YouTube, titled Behind The Seams. (https://youtu.be/hsoMPPrcfD8) These short tutorials cover the gamut of themes from creating a mood-board to designing a collection. The goal is to equip the next generation of talent with the tools they need to make a mark on the world of fashion. And if there’s anyone who can help them pull it off, it’s Indian fashion’s eternally cool fairy godmother, Monisha Jaising. In pic: A still from Monisha Jaising's new YouTube fashion masterclass series, Behind The Seams