Miuniku: Indian minimalism
IN THE WEEKLY RUBRIC "NEW MARK" Wonderzine presents young designers and tells where and how you can buy their things. Our heroes this week are sisters Nikita and Tina Sutradhar, budding designers from India, working with color, shape and a constructively complex cut, combining women's and men's clothing, everyday life and art.
You must admit that today successful designers from India can be counted on fingers: I recall Manish Arora, Ashish and Prabal Gurung. All but Manisha went the same way as the Sutradhar sisters: after leaving India they entered a prestigious school in London or New York. So, Ashish was born in Delhi, but he graduated from Central Saint Martins in the magistracy with the legendary teacher Louise Wilson. Prabal Gurung grew up in Nepal, began his career in New Delhi, but became known after he graduated from Parsons The New School for Design in New York. Sisters Nikita and Tina Sutradhar chose London College of Fashion for their studies.
Sisters Nikita and Tina Sutradhar were born and raised in Mumbai. In education, the sisters were immediately divided: one focused on doing business, the other on creating clothes. So, the elder Tina studied fashion business in the Mumbai School of Trading, after which she continued her studies at London College of Fashion, enrolling in a short course in marketing in the fashion industry. Nikita came to London for her sister, who graduated from her studies in India on the course of a fashion designer and entered the design course for women's clothing at London College of Fashion. The sisters were released simultaneously in 2013. They still founded the brand in their homeland, Mumbai, they want to expand and work from London. Their potential was noticed immediately. In 2013, the sisters received a prize for innovation from their university, a prize from the ISKO Denim Diffusion Award, and in 2014 reached the final of the H & M contest and entered the short list of the LVMH contest.
In the Miuniku collections, the sisters' duality is also visible: Tina brings femininity - she likes to emphasize the waist, Nikita also distorts the form, bringing things to masculine rough shapes and volumes, in its architectural style resembling the cut Balenciaga. The sisters manage to combine the minimalism of the cut with the excessiveness in color and graphic details. Sisters in their clothes always combine several fabrics at once: knitwear, wool, silk, organza.
In 2014, the brand won the second prize of the competition of young designers, organized by the conglomerate LVMH. The sisters received a reward of 100,000 euros and a year of mentoring and support from LVMH. Moreover, at the time of the competition, the brand managed to show only two collections - and both sisters were sewn while studying at the London College of Fashion. In addition, the sisters are very young: Nikita is now 23 years old, Tine is 25 years old.
Even before entering London College of Fashion, we focused on working on our brand. Everything we learned, everything we did, everything was for Miuniku. We have made our first collection monochrome. We used many combinations of black with white, dark gray, dark blue. But we would not want to get the glory of designers "chernushnik" and in the second collection have already investigated the color: red, yellow, rich blue. We are inspired by the commonness: washing dishes, cooking, washing. We would like to cover all life with its repetitive actions. So, bright colors and graphics resemble the packaging of detergents. We are very mundane in general.
Where to buy Miuniku stuff
Buyers are just eyeing the designers, although after the prize from LVMH, probably in the fall many brands will buy the brand, and it will appear in Opening Ceremony, Dover Street Market or Colette Paris. Before the design competition, he managed to purchase the Tokyo boutique CEMENT. Designers can also write to the email: [email protected]. They are still taking personal orders.