Pallavi’s journey into fashion!

“I am from Indore and I always had this crazy obsession of dressing up and clicking pictures. Even when phones did not have selfie cameras, I used to take my selfies from the back camera and post them on Facebook. Dressing up was my calm.

I did my graduation in Foreign Trade. I have a friend who is a photographer. I met him in college and he became my best friend. We used to go around and take pictures and do small photoshoots in coffee shops or streets. This way I started my Instagramming journey.

My parents asked me to take up an MBA for my post-graduation. But I refused. I was so done with it. I always knew fashion was my calling. There was always a thing that I need to dress up and look good and wear things differently. I wanted to be in a fashion college. It was a task to convince my parents. They asked me if I could get in any of the top 5 fashion colleges in India, they’ll allow me to take up fashion. I applied for Fashion and Clothing Technology in NIFT, Mumbai. This course is a mixture of Fashion Designing and Fashion business. NIFT was the second topmost fashion college in India at that time. I got selected for the interview. We had to make a portfolio for the interview. So I worked day and night to crack it. I also took classes. I appeared for the interview and I got selected. My parents were still not convinced even after I made it to the second topmost fashion college in India. The biggest challenge was to make them believe that I was dying for this all through my life and that I can’t step back now. They submitted my fees on the last date of admission.

I went to Bombay for my post-graduation. As soon as I landed in Bombay, I knew what I had to do. Since I was in a fashion college, everybody used to take pictures. I had a lot of friends who used to accompany me for shoots and we used to take each other’s pictures as well. I used to go around in Bombay and click pictures. While I was post graduating, I had this full collection of my pictures.

I interned with many known personalities like Kritika Bohra and Sonam Kapoor’s stylist. I styled Tara Sutaria, Shanaya Kapoor, Janhvi Kapoor. I was in Sonam Kapoor’s main styling team.

I’m a budding fashion designer and a Instagram influencer . I design my own collections. My graduation collection was ‘Contemporary Lush’. Recently, I was selling masks. I plan to have a brand and grow digitally through my Instagram. As a fashion influencer, I’m collaborating with different brands.

I just want to say that if you’re passionate about it, then you should go for it. In my case, I had no plan-B. I planned for Fashion Designing and I did it. If you want to do something, you can! Just hard work and determination can take you to heights. I also want the parents to understand that individualism is very important. Don’t try to control your kid’s life. Just let them fly.”.

Instagram – @pallavibalani