MoonRay opens flagship store in Mumbai
- Fashion Featured
Schenelle Dsouza
- 8 minutes read
Schenelle Dsouza
Luxury ready-to-wear brand MoonRay opened its first flagship store in Mumbai’s Phoenix Palladium mall this week. A celebration of craft and modernity, MoonRay was founded in December 2021 by mother-daughter duo Karishma (of JADE by Monica & Karishma) and Avantika Swali. As a conscious label, MoonRay draws upon craft’s endless possibilities for a uniquely eclectic aesthetic, balanced between minimal and maximal codes.
Known for its timeless collections, MoonRay’s new store was designed in collaboration with interior designer Tejal Mathur to embody the timelessness of the craft. A striking white canvas, the post-modern minimal store is contrasted by MoonRay’s latest Fall/Winter ’22 collection.
The collection titled ‘The Study of Light’ is inspired by the multiple facets of light, an allegory to the infinite possibilities of femininity. Light and its movement play an important role, transforming into a play of prints, contrasting panels and intricate hand embroidery. The spectrum of light is translated into moving stitches in a break-and-flow pattern, a mix of pastel and vivid colours for the day and dark colours for evening engagements feature throughout the collection. The collection is characterised by light and flowy silhouettes, which make an appearance through pieces like chic skirts, elegant pantsuits, playful maxis and striking jewellery pieces that stand out without seeming garish. Talking about the new store and MoonRay’s latest collection, founder Karishma Swali talks about the ideation behind the new store and its alignment with the new collection.
What did you have in mind when you decided to launch your flagship store in Mumbai?
With the launch of our first store, our endeavour is to be catalysts to creating a community with a collective conscience. Having a collective experience of over 50 years in luxury craft, collaborating with global couture and pret-a-porter houses, we have had the fortune of exploring craftsmanship and mindful luxury across almost all genres of handicraft and we felt the need to share this love and know-how and amplify our voice together.
Did the store turn out to look exactly as you’d envisioned?
We imagined a space that was invisible and intuitive, silent yet modern – a space that was almost a blank canvas allowing the craft to be the protagonist. We wanted customers to enter a peaceful space that fuels inner reflection along with a deep reverence for our craft communities.
The MoonRay store is an all-white landscape created to embrace conscious craft narratives and provoke an unexpected dialogue between two worlds- the inner and the outer, the amorphous with the fiercely detailed.
We wished for the store to continue carrying our values of mindfulness and conscious living. And so, we used hand-coated limestone walls against terrazzo flooring and then punctuated them with bronzed racks to weave the story of handmade modernity and luxury to honour MoonRay’s conscious values and collections.
Was the collection created to compliment the new store or the other way around?
A celebration of craft and modernity, MoonRay’s Fall/Winter ’22 collection advocates artisanal legacies through the study of light for contemporary women today to have their own explorations.
The collection titled the study of light is inspired by light’s many facets, an allegory to femininity’s infinite possibilities. Light and its movement are transformed into plays of prints, contrast panels with varying opacities, and hand embroidery. The spectrum of light is translated into moving stitches in a break and flow pattern, and a mix of pastel and vivid colours for the day and dark colours for evening engagements feature throughout the collection.
The process of scientific research is explored as scribbled study notes and introduced as embroidered details on denim and twill jackets. Exploring light and its movement, our fall/winter 22 collection approaches concepts like reflection and refraction from creative and metaphorical perspectives. Pieces are artistically panelled to allow for shifting opacities to complement movement. Hand techniques like crotchet, cording, lacing, and beading have been employed amongst modern silhouettes for a contemporary woman. MoonRay fall/winter 22 is a celebration of craft and modernity — a step forward in the study of one’s own light.
Do you plan on opening any new stores around the country anytime soon?
We would like to spend some time to understand our customers and community, how we may add value and be catalysts to mindful living, and if we are able to add value, we would certainly love to have more stores around the country and the world.
