Ridhima Batra

Hometown: Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India
Collection name: Kairava
Collection in three words: Spiritual. Elegant. Feminine.

Instagram: @ridhima_bartra
Email: rbatra.1@go.ccad.edu

Drawing inspiration from the deep metaphorical use of the lotus flower in spiritual Vedic literature (ancient Indian spiritual books), the collection Kairava by Ridhima Batra showcases women’s elegance and femininity through different silhouettes. “Kairava” is Sanskrit for a white lotus flower that blooms at night, and Batra says that her spiritual practices have helped her bloom, even during such dark times as the COVID-19 pandemic, which kept her from traveling back home to India. Batra researched the numerous temple paintings described in books written by sages thousands of years ago, and sought to bring their visions to life with her collection. “I hope people appreciate that something intangible like spirituality can be translated into something artistic,” she says. The resulting spiritual, elegant, and feminine was made with sustainability in mind, using such fabrics as silk crepe, silk taffeta, silk habotai, and Bangalore silk to mimic the softness of lotus petals.