Aisha Rao’s summer edit is inspired by Japanese artist Fumi Imamura’s floral language
Hyderabad-based designer Aisha Rao’s latest collection, Inter-Hana, which she unveiled at the recently concluded Lakmé Fashion Week x FDCI in Mumbai, is inspired by the abstract floral language of Japanese artist Fumi Imamura. The collection is a blend of Japanese minimalism and Indian craft and explores the intersections of art, culture, and textile innovation. With garden blooms being an integral part of her designs, this time she extended this philosophy, building a narrative around moments that shape everyday life. Silhouettes are designed with movement and mood in mind, where natural forms evolve into abstract motifs.
Aisha Rao’s Inter-Hana blends Japanese art with Indian craft
Leaves shifted into paisleys, while florals unfolded into geometric interpretations. Fumi’s minimalist approach was reimagined through Aisha’s design sensibility with greater textural depth and a richer colour palette, creating a layered dialogue between Japanese restraint and Indian maximalism. To that effect, she used mesh textiles, lace-like borders, layers of organza and tulle, and scrunched lurex.
Surface detailing completes the visual narrative. Raffia accents, handcrafted trims, and tactile embellishments echo the textures within the garments themselves. Aisha takes us through the same.
Tell us all about your new collection.
For me it began with this idea of everything that exists between defined moments. Not the big occasions, but the quieter, more personal transitions. That thinking shaped every decision. The palette moves through soft neutrals into deeper blues, moss greens and earth tones, but it’s not just about colour, it’s about how those tones sit against each other and evolve across the garment. Texture becomes very important this season. We developed all the fabrics in-house, which allowed us to control how they behave. The silhouettes follow that same idea. They’re not rigid. Corsetry is softened through drape, skirts shift between structure and fluidity, and separates are designed to move across occasions.
How have flowers been depicted in this collection?
I didn’t want florals to feel decorative. Instead, I was more interested in what a flower represents, growth, fragility, and transformation. So, the florals are abstracted. They appear through form, through texture, through how something unfolds on the body. A leaf might evolve into a paisley; a bloom might dissolve into geometry. It’s less about seeing a flower and more about feeling its presence in the garment.
This summer, what fashion is working in casual daywear?
I think people are moving away from anything that feels forced. There’s a shift towards clothes that you can actually live in, pieces that feel effortless but still have a point of view. It’s less about dressing for an occasion and more about dressing for yourself. You’ll see fluid skirts, softer tailoring, and pieces that don’t feel overly constructed but still hold their shape.
What inspires your designs?
It’s always quite instinctive. It could come from something personal, a feeling, a phase I’m going through, or something visual like art. This season, Fumi Imamura’s work really stayed with me. There’s a quietness and restraint in how she approaches florals, and that pushed me to think differently about how I express something that’s usually seen as very decorative.
What colours can one explore this summer apart from pastels?
I think there’s room to move into deeper, more grounded tones: moss greens, muted blues, and warmer earthy shades.
What are your plans for the label?
This season was important because we’ve moved into developing everything in-house, and that changes how you design and how you think about the final outcome. At the same time, we’re also starting to explore jewellery more seriously. It’s something we’re interested in developing further, looking at jewellery as part of the larger design language, not separate from it.
Do you have any styling tips for summer?
Keep it intuitive. Don’t overthink it. Let one element lead, whether it’s the silhouette, the colour or the texture, and build around that. And most importantly, wear something that feels like you. That always shows.
Tell us about your upcoming collections.
Appliqué has always been central to how we design, and each season we try to push it in a new direction. That’s something that will remain constant for us. Going forward, that’s how we see it evolving. The technique stays, but the expression keeps changing with the story of each collection.