Making designs for comfortable wear

Hyderabad-based fashion designer Lavanya Satuluri always wanted to remain close to her family so finally she moved to India. She was working as IT team lead in Singapore with Singapore Government Agency. Lavanya says, "I Used to travel to India almost once every month just to design clothes for few friends and family and to handle the karigars. That is how I tested myself if I was ready to leave my successful IT career which has been my passion and that took a year to come in terms with it. Soon the "option of designing" has become a passion and I decided to resign my job and moved back to India."

Inspired by her mother, Lavanya says, "My mom was a working women ever since I was born and all I remember about fashion and clothing from my childhood is glimpses of her every morning in very elegant and simple cotton sarees in varied colours."

She focuses on designing comfortable and elegant clothing which reflects in all her designs. She says, "We want every woman to feel comfortable and confident in our designs irrespective of her age, complexion or personality. My label 'Aamra' refers to the evergreen mango and that's why I named it so to retain a fresh fashionable outlook."

In order to get a firm foot in this competitive industry, fashion designers need to hone their skills through a degree but for Lavanya it was very challenging to become a designer without any fashion background. She says, "Coming from a different background with zero knowledge about the technical aspects of fashion designing definitely was a challenge to me. But I love to learn things on my own from scratch and I am a constant learner. I try to observe and learn from everything around and that has helped me come this far."

"We come from a country with immense talent and manpower irrespective of education. No other country has this kind of varied weaves that we have. In terms of fashion - every season I want to ensure to pick and use at least one from the Indian weavers in my designs and put it out there," shares Lavanya.

She believes that Diana Penty has a very elegant choice of clothing and carries effortlessly. And her collection is available at her studio in Financial District- Hyderabad. "Sequinor is our prêt-à-porter collection that is inspired from the tropical shades of mother nature. As the name says complete collection is made with sequin hand embroidery. The colour palette of Sequinor is a melange of pastel hues and deeper shades that flaunts the essence of tropical hues elegantly through light flowy silhouettes, intricate embroidery with delicate craftsmanship and varied colours. Sequinor's long dresses, ruffle sarees, crop top skirts made with flowy fabrics and in dreamy colours is definitely a must have in your wardrobe," she adds.