Asmita Marwa

Hailing from Hyderabad, Indian fashion designer Asmita Marwa’s collections fuse traditional Indian silhouettes with an eclectic global design sensibility. Her reinterpretation of Kalamkari is acclaimed as much in Paris and LA as it is in Hyderabad. The label essentially retails ready to wear and resort wear.

Hyderabad- based fashion designer Asmita Marwa began her career in fashion in the Nineties. She was the first Hyderabad designer to enter the Telugu film industry and has dressed several iconic actors including Nagarjuna, Preity Zinta, Mahesh Babu and Tabu in films like Manmadhudu, Santhosham, Premante Idera, Arjun, Attadu, Pokiri and Gharshana.

In December 2003 Asmita Marwa launched her eponymous fashion label, Asmita Design, sold through her signature store Reves d’Etoile and at "xlnc" in Hyderabad and "Aza Fashions" in Mumbai and Delhi. Firmly believing in the need for sustainable and "slow fashion" Asmita fuses traditional and global design aesthetics into globally- relevant silhouettes.. using ethical production practices. 

Per Pernia's Pop Up: "For Asmita Marwa, sustainability is a platform on which her design and creativity rest. It is the spine and essence of her brand, with the understanding that it is slow-fashion. Asmita Marwa's work revolves around this concept and considers it to be a timeless fashion that is in its evolving phase. Here, Asmita Marwa aims at adding separates to keep the wheel of the evolution of a concept or design language spinning. Although it is a risky business, she prefers taking the path less traveled."

Asmita Marwa is a sustainable fashion label creating and manufacturing garments in-house, using ethical norms and practices. The core tea\m believes in 'Cradle-to- Cradle' design or re-generative design which is holistic. They create systems that are not only efficient but also essentially waste free. Recycling, up-cycling and sustainable fashion is what Asmita believes is the future of fashion and the brand has given timeless fashion a whole new dimension keeping sustainability and eco-friendly design at the heart of the label.

Per the official website: "Our clothes are for the free- spirited world traveler who is bohemian at heart, dreaming of a world without boundaries… There is nothing more beautiful than a woman being unapologetically herself, comfortable in her perfect imperfection… that is the true essence of beauty. This Zen label celebrates wanderlust and the eternal traveler, bringing together various cultures and heritage art forms to tell a story, season after season."

Asmita has been participating in Lakme Fashion Week since 2008 with her collection "Gaia-An Awakening" taking the sustainable fashion world by storm. Asmita has also made a special appearance at Global Sustainable Fashion Week in Budapest, Hungary. Her collection in Budapst titled Zero Waste showcased repurposed fabrics in the form of appliqués,  textures and accessories. 

“At our workshop nothing is considered as scrap. All the small bits and pieces of fabric that are usually wasted from the sides are neatly segregated and put into various packets which we use for recycling and repurposing to create appliqués, fabric textures and accessories…" she told Gulf News. "Now we have made Zero Waste a part of our design sensibility and language. You will find us taking up scraps and creating a beautiful fish, a kite or a dramatic design out of it. It gives us immense satisfaction that through our creativity we can reduce waste on this planet."

Asmita Marwa continues to work on her collections using zero waste and ethical production processes. She explained to Gulf News: "Labour exploitation is a bane of our industry. I ensure people who work for me they are like family. During the pandemic when lockdowns were imposed we kept paying salaries. We have medical insurance for our senior staff and everyone has a regular shift and holidays. I want my artisans to enjoy the process of making each piece as much as I do."

Asmita Marwa believes in recycling, up-cycling and sustainable fashion as the future of fashion. The Hyderabad- based luxury label offers cutting-edge resort wear while keeping sustainability and eco-friendly design at its core. The designer believes that winning in retail in a significant market like India requires striking the perfect balance between a global approach and a dash of local flair. 

Sustainability and slow fashion are the pillars of the eponymous fashion brand. It is the crux of the luxury label. The fashion designer firmly believes that sustainability is about slow-fashion, about timeless fashion, about evolving a concept and re-inventing, re- interpreting it over a few seasons. Sustainable fashion is also about adding separates to continue the evolution of a concept or design language. Asmita Marwa's philosophy of sustainable fashion is to create unique garments which stand the test of time, last a life time and spark joy every time someone wears them.

Asmita Marwa essentially retails resort wear including shirts, dhoti skirts, tops, skirts and kurtis. The designer's philosophy of sustainable fashion is to create unique garments which last a lifetime and spark joy every time someone wears them. Her showing at India resort Week 2013 exemplified this aesthetic. Per Explosive Fashion: "it was the clothes that seduced be it striped minis and sheer tops or crossover patterned covers and crushed wrap pants. Kaftans were lean and long with collars while kimono-style midis and wide-leg green pants with emerald drop-shoulder tunic could move from beach to club… Adding to the look were traditional ikat and batik prints blending seamlessly with sequins and fabric texturing. For every fluid silhouette there was a body-conscious one. In the former, gold-sheeted sack dresses that slouched off the body looked great and in the latter: waistcoats with patchwork or scalloped cutouts."