Fashion per se has always held a unique fascination for Sonali, who viewed her involvement with the field, more in the nature of an opportunity to allow for self- development, than as a serious business option. As a teenager, she enjoyed mixing and matching scraps of ideas and volumes of material to create impressive apparel statements for her friends and herself. It was at the tender enthusiastic age of 16, soon after Sonali completed her l0th Board examination that she teamed up with a friend to actually create and organize an exhibition of western wear. The success of this maiden venture spurred her creative juices and she knew her career focus for the feature was apparel creation.
It was around the same time, when ebullience was running a clear high that she had a brief encounter with a designer who convinced her about pursuing a course in pattern cutting in Mumbai, which she did. Thereafter, she did a stint with Ted Lapidus. A meeting with Olivier Lapidus only re-enforced her decision to study fashion abroad. British Fashion already held a fascination for her and London was her obvious destination.
Sonali trained at, 'The London Centre for Fashion Studies' where she pursued the one- year intensive Fashion Design course where her interest in prêt-line grew. She returned to London to do a short course at 'Central Saint Martins' and 'The London College of Fashion.
It was in the January of 1999 on her return to India, namely Delhi that the launch of her label ‘Just Urban' a western ready-to-wear line took place at Ensemble, New Delhi.
Sonali's creative design sense is born out of an interesting psyche which believes- selecting limited editions or one-offs, inspire the urban women to loosen up, experiment and most importantly have a little fun. Keeping this in mind, Sonali's concentration is on making clothes which are comfortable and always wearable. The look is precious but not in the least bit fussy. The creations possess an ease which allow you to 'get up and go' quality.
By virtue of being a ready-to-wear line, the price range does not wander into the unaffordable and ranges from Rs.1000/- to Rs.4000/-
Available at: Ensemble -New Delhi
Ensemble, You, The Oak Tree –Mumbai
Ffolio -Bangalore
7 The Design Lounge -Chennai