It takes a Mumbai girl to start her first independent design collection by unveiling a line of designer rainwear. Freshman fashionista Sonya Vajifdar may have learned her craft at Milan – “It was three years of toil, at the Instituto Europeo de Design!” – apprenticed with Estrele, France, and may be headed later this month to showcase her Fall/Winter collection at two of London Fashion Week’s glitzy, heady party events, but she orients herself around her roots in Mumbai. “I work out of my home in Churchgate in South Mumbai and design full-time,” she says. “My style is trendy, feminine with a rough edge; it’s creative, but wearable.” The quintessential Mumbai mix? The monsoon line isn’t all, either – Sonya has two high-end designer lines currently adorning racks at tony establishments across the country. Her design idols ranging from Anna Sui to Manish Arora – “But I love the cuts and class of Versace and Valentino, too” – and inspiration, she says, is drawn from disparate sources; the great outdoors and interior spaces alike. Where, we wonder, does a 24-year-old with an already remarkable résumé see herself in 10 years’ time? “An exclusive Sonya Vajifdar store,” she says, with an internationally renowned label. We see it.

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