When high street meets high couture

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She was born into a family of politicians and raised in the country’s political capital. So when Sakshee Pradhan, one of Delhi’s budding new designers decided to make a foray into fashion, it wasn’t one of the easiest decisions to make.

After a brief stint at medicine and much insistent coaxing on her part, Sakshee decided to take the plunge and today at the age of 24, is the creative director of her fashion brand, Schon.
“Everybody in my paternal family, right from my great grandfather to my father is a politician. Designing was always a secret hobby for me but I never had the courage to say it out loud because I wasn’t sure how my parents would react if I chose to enter a creative field,” she says. But once she did decide, Sakshee made it to some of the best design schools in the country and abroad — Nift and London School of Fashion. And while she was at it, Sakshee had the opportunity to work with some of the best names in fashion — Gucci and Zara, London. “The experience taught me a great deal because that is where fashion is born. And India gets the trickled down version of what is conceived there.”
So what does fashion mean to her? “Fashion is a lifestyle and style is a tool to be fashionable. It’s not something you put on one fine day and feel stylish. It’s something you breathe, believe and live by,” she says adding, “I like to describe my personal style as ‘high street meets high couture’. It’s a mix of high-end couture mixed and matched with some local flavours of my city.”
And is her brand an extension of her own style? “Not at all! Schon is in fact an exaggerated version of me. It is more colourful and much more vibrant than my own style,” she clarifies.
Why Schon? “I spent some of my formative years in London and my nanny back then was a lovely German lady. She often addressed me as Schon which means ‘beautiful’ in German. I decided to name my brand after it as a way of showing gratitude to my nanny. Besides, the word has a beautiful ring to it,” she smiles.
Apart from catering to her loyal client base in the capital, Sakshee is currently preparing to showcase her collection at the Paris Fashion Week. “I want to follow my aesthetics and bring Indian fashion in focus,” she concludes.