Street style, craft conscious and non-ageist — MoonRay by mother-daughter duo Karishma and Avantika Swali checks all the boxes
Street style, craft conscious and non-ageist — MoonRay by mother-daughter duo Karishma and Avantika Swali checks all the boxes
Gen Z brand, MoonRay, just launched its SS 22 collection, You Are Home, with a pop-up at Araku Coffee in Indiranagar, Bengaluru. The second collection from the four-month-old label is a fun and playful line inspired by board games and moonflowers. Dominated by a palette of blacks, creams, blues and creams, it also includes hand-crafted vegan leather shoes and bags, and a limited edition of 22 karat gold-plated jewellery.
“MoonRay is rooted in craft, compassion and conscious living,” says Mumbai-based Karishma Swali, who co-founded the brand with her 15-year-old daughter, Avantika Swali, last December. Karishma comes with 25 years of involvement in craft through their family business, Chanakya International — a luxury craft house that supplies to international couture brands such as Dior and Gucci (see box). “There’s so much innate wisdom in craft. It’s naturally sustainable and carbon footprint free, and it’s meaningful,” she continues.
MoonRay’s idea is to be a catalyst to building a community with a collective conscience. “I’ve seen a huge gap in sustainable, eclectic, cruelty-free fashion, particularly in India,” says Avantika, who studies at Bombay International School and designed her first T-shirt in grade three. “I wanted to help create clothes that are purposeful, carry a message, and that are Earth positive. I believe Gen Z is very conscious of our environment and our planet, and we are the generation that will create change collectively.”
Clean, certified and organic
The mother and daughter would also like to position MoonRay as a non-ageist brand. “We like to believe that it’s not season-focussed or age-focussed. It’s just focussed on building community through beautiful clothing,” says Karishma. Almost 25% of their clientele is in the 25 to 35 age group. Where they expected the tees from the pret collection to do better, the dresses are flying off the racks — with structured tailoring and good fits working for them.
MoonRay Spring-Summer ’22 collection
Are they a ‘green’ brand, then? “We don’t want to overstate that because, in the end, it’s an effort to be as clean as you can,” she says. And, they start at the raw material level. Rain harvested organic Kala cotton from Kutch, forest certified viscose (by the FSC or Forest Stewardship Council), and organic jersey is worked with flat chiffons and crepes. One of their popular skirts uses an under-layer of upcycled rayon fishnets.
They duo sources threads that are either made from regenerated fibres or are recycled. “Our whole crochet series is done with recycled cotton threads repurposed from industrial waste,” says Karishma. They have used macramé in their jewellery line to make bracelets, and everything is gold-plated on non-virgin (upcycled) brass.
Transitional and light
Denim, a fashion staple, has been used extensively in the collection, but as Karishma reiterates, they have used organic cotton and “the processes are plant-based”, which makes it a lot cleaner. “To create a pair of organic denim jeans we use nine percent to 11% of the water [under 200 litres].” Their Mumbai-based factories are all SA 8000 certified — an international certification that ensures all social aspects are taken care, be it health and safety, or management systems.
With craft being their innate strength, it is not surprising then that in this collection, a lot of appliqué, surface work, beading and cut-work feature. “To keep craft relevant, and to preserve it, it needs to be available in a more contemporary handwriting for the Gen Z. It needs to be light and something transformable… that can transition between day or night in different ways,” says Karishma.
Tees from approx ₹1,800 while evening pieces (made-to-order for size) can go up to ₹60,000. Available online only, at moonray.in
Pandemic and the arts
For the last 40 years, Chanakya International has been working with different craft genres across the country — such as bullion work from Lucknow, abla work from Gujarat and Kutch region, embroidery from Bengal — and some of the best international fashion houses. “We work a lot with Fendi, Christian Dior, Celine, all of which belong to the LVMH [Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy] group. There’s also Versace, Gucci,” says Karishma. Their recent venture is an art vertical — something they came up with during the pandemic “while thinking of creative ways to handhold our artisans”. They worked with French artist Eva Jospin and Christian Dior, and ventured into the home and art space. “With Eva Jospin, who works with cardboard and builds enchanting ‘forests’, we hand-embroidered the forests! We did a 340-square metre panel that was part of the Christian Dior haute couture show last year.” They also partnered with award-winning artists in India, Manu and Madhavi Parekh, showing a retrospective of their life’s work at the Christian Dior show where Karishma curated their art with craft.
