The new artsy stylist in town

Hyderabad: Indrakshi Ria Pattanaik’s name came to the fore when actress Regina Cassandra wowed everybody with her chic Indian ensemble at the audio launch of Power earlier this month. Her affiliation to the film industry stems from the fact that she is actor Brahmaji’s daughter-in-law. But there is more to Indrakshi than her famous Tollywood connection.

“I met Regina at a party and we ended up becoming good friends. She later came to know, through my Instagram updates, that I am also a stylist and she asked me to style her. We never assumed that we would end up working together,” she says. Indrakshi also styled Regina when she attended designer Ridhi Mehra’s show at LFW 2014.

Her work was also appreciated by actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu. “She texted me saying she loved my work and that I should style her too. But I am not officially styling her yet,” says Indrakshi, who recently worked with singer Monica Dogra for her first solo album.

“When I finished schooling in Kolkata, I was confused. My mother is an architect, so everybody assumed I was going to work with her. But I was more inclined towards arts,” says Indrakshi, who began her career as a stylist only this February.

“I enrolled myself in a four-year fashion communication course at Symbiosis Institute of Design and one of our modules was about styling. I realised that this is what I wanted to do; for me, fashion is a form of art.”

But the 24-year-old admits that back then, becoming a stylist was quite uncommon. “This happened during 2007-2008, and the concept of a fashion stylist was new. My parents thought I wanted to do hair and make-up and the whole salon kind of thing,” she laughs. “But they were also the ones who sent me to pursue Masters at Polimoda Fashion School in Florence. That one year was a huge source of inspiration; I got to attend the Milan Fashion Week, see the editors of Vogue and other major publications whom I had always read about,” adds Indrakshi.

Trying to survive in this competitive industry, Indrakshi was trying “to be all over the place” and in between marriage happened. “Marriage helped me in my career. Due to my father-in-law, I was introduced to an industry that otherwise I might not have worked with. And now I have two families, one in Hyderabad and the other one in Singapore, where my parents currently stay,” she says.

Indrakshi currently lives in Mumbai and shuttles between Hyderabad and Mumbai. “I do have plans of moving to Hyderabad soon to start my styling studio. That’s also because I feel Hyderabad needs more street style and fun clothing solution,” she adds.