Kanika Saluja is back after two years, hoping to mix leather, tweed and lace, making autumn a season to remember!

By Asmita Aggarwal

Born in Delhi, and raised in NYC she lived there for 20 years. But that didn’t change Kanika Saluja, who acquired a degree in economics and marketing from the US. “I didn’t study fashion. I dropped out of fashion school. I learned everything on the job and I shadowed a brilliant pattern maker in NYC. My entire family was in the industry since I was a baby, so fashion has been around me since childhood. Sooner or later, I would come on this path and I guess it was my true calling. Plus, my father recognised the creative artist in me before I could and he is the real reason I got into the industry,” she adds.

Back after a hiatus, it was tough to keep up with an ever evolving fashion industry. But Kanika says that it’s not that hard because she has been here working in fashion for more than 18 years (15 in NYC, and four years in India). “I am used to the ups and downs of this industry. I think creativity is in my blood, so I can’t really stay away from it. I am always keeping myself in some way connected to fashion,” she adds.

With her brother Arjun Saluja a part of the style landscape too, Kanika calls him a ‘genius’ and adds that he has been a huge motivation for her. “I have always been inspired by him. He has really grown as a designer over the years. He is technically profound and no one can match his quality and finishing. He is a true artist in every single way,” she says.

What differentiates each designer from the sea of offerings is their signature style, and Anaikka’s USP remains leather and metal. She confesses that she makes clothes for real women. “Women with curves and natural God gifted beauty. The Anaikka women is an Alpha female, who is confident independent and opinionated and the brand is like that too. It has a voice and an opinion and it speaks for all the independent women of today. Our sensibility is an amalgamation of male and female energy. We mix the masculine with the feminine. You will be able to see a lot of that in our AW16 collection,” she smiles.

Going through a tough time in the last two years it has been hard, but she loves what she does. “I am very emotional about my work and I am an optimist and believe after darkness there is always sunshine,” she says.

The AW’16 line is a reinvention of Anaikka, as she will have the bold gothic industrial edge that her pieces carry, but it will also have a chic mature feminine sensibility. “This collection is way more mature and intelligent as women are always growing and getting wiser each year and so is Anaikka,” she adds.

Going through a roller coaster in her professional and personal life, has made her wiser, more patient and optimistic about her journey. “I believe in karma and I am a very spiritual person. Everything in life that you go through, has a learning behind it and it’s just showing you your true calling. So these two years have just been a soul opening trek for me,” she explains.

With fashion slowly moving towards minimalism and adopting simplicity, Kanika does not believe in the conventional minimalism. But adds that the colours are vintage and most of them are towards deep jewel tones.

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“There is a lot of leather, tweed, heavy high quality silks and beautiful vintage French laces inspired by Victorian vintage with a modern industrial gothic edge to it. Basically, the line is a mix of Victorian and modern contemporary,” she adds.

Hoping that women are able to take more risks and come out the square box, be more experimental and have a bit more fun, Kanika’s future plans are to have an international presence. “We are already showing in Paris this season, so I want to start showing in NYC too, as that’s my home base. Another aim is to develop her menswear line. Online presence is important but not imperative for everyone, so it’s relative,” she adds.

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And what are some of her favourite things in the line? “All the jackets and the leather pieces I love. I like leather as that’s the biker chick in me talking. The prints are very charming as this is the first time we are doing them,” she concludes.

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Click here to watch ANAIKKA by #KanikaSaluja at #AIFWAW16