Mini Sondhi’s latest edit translates unsaid conversations into a journey of acceptance and bloom
Mini Sondhi’s collection showcased at Lakme Fashion Week x FDCI was perhaps her most personal yet. Inspired by a letter to her father, A Letter to My Dad explores grief, love, vulnerability and the many things that often remain unsaid between parents and children.
The collection comes from Mini’s own experience of trying to understand her father’s grief, and in the process, questioning her own emotions, assumptions and the conversations she had never quite managed to have with him.
Moving through four emotions namely, chaos, expression, acceptance, and bloom, the collection looks at the journey from emotional conflict towards understanding and acceptance. It also opens up a larger conversation around masculinity, the expectations placed on men to remain strong and composed, and the importance of allowing ourselves to be vulnerable. Mini tells us more.
How did translating such raw, intimate emotions into designs affect your creative process?
There was a shift in how I viewed emotions and how they translated into my work. Every collection, every oufit, is inspired by human emotions that are universal, yet experienced so dif ferently by each individual.
I don’t believe there is ever a fixed process to creativity; it is constantly evolving. With A Letter to My Dad, the process became more personal because I was drawing from emotions I was still trying to understand myself. It wasn’t just about interpreting a feeling aesthetically, but about allowing it to unfold organically through the garments.
I think that freedom became more evident towards the end of the collection. As I moved through the different phases, I found myself expressing things more openly, both emotionally and creatively.
How does this socio-emotional commentary manifest in the silhouettes, cuts, or structure of the garments?
We often grow up seeing men as the ones who must hold everything together. They are expected to be dependable, composed and strong, often without being given the same space to express grief or uncertainty. In the collection, structure represents that conditioning: the instinct to stay composed and keep difficult emotions contained. As the narrative unfolds, the silhouettes become less restrictive, and the fabrics allow for greater movement and fluidity.
How does A Letter to My Dad bridge the gap between wearable art and emotional healing?
It began with a very personal observation. After losing my grandmother, I noticed a change in my father. His grief was quiet. He spoke less, held more within himself, and continued to carry on as though strength meant not allowing the world to see what he was feeling.
It made me think about how often we struggle to have conversations about emotions with the people we love most. Writing him a letter became a way to open that conversation, not to ask him to change, but to create space for both of us to express what we were feeling.
The collection translates that experience into something tangible. Through its progression from chaos and expression to acceptance and bloom, the garments become a way of communicating what can sometimes be difficult to put into words. I don’t see fashion as a substitute for healing, but I do believe it can give our emotions a language, make us feel seen, and help us begin conversations we might otherwise avoid.
We are seeing a shift away from purely aesthetic or trend-driven collections towards deeply autobiographical design. Why are designers and consumers alike turning to fashion for emotional resonance?
I think we are becoming more interested in the meaning behind what we wear, beyond how something looks or whether it follows a particular trend. People connect with honesty, and personal stories have a way of making that connection feel immediate and human.
For designers, drawing from personal experiences allows the work to emerge from a place of truth rather than simply responding to what is happening around us. For consumers, knowing the story behind a garment can make it feel more meaningful. It becomes something they connect with emotionally, rather than just something they own.
I also think there is a growing willingness to acknowledge emotions that were once kept private. Fashion gives us a way to explore those experiences creatively and share them with others. When a personal story touches on something universal, it stops being just the designer’s story and becomes something other people can recognise themselves in.
How are designers using non-traditional forms and softer narratives to reshape modern wardrobes?
I think contemporary fashion is creating more room for individuality and emotional expression. Designers are moving beyond the idea that clothing must fit into rigid definitions of masculinity, femininity or occasion. There is greater freedom to experiment with proportion, texture, movement and the relationship between structure and softness.
In my collection, this comes through in the gradual loosening of silhouettes and the introduction of more fluid fabrics and colour. These are not just aesthetic decisions; they reflect a change in the emotional language of the garments.
For me, reshaping the modern wardrobe is not necessarily about making clothes more unconventional. It is about allowing them to feel more human. Clothing can still be structured and considered while leaving room for vulnerability, imperfection and personal interpretation.
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