What do you get when you combine a sharp flair for drama, with punk aesthetics, and a love for anomalies? A moral science lesson, perhaps?! Meet Isha Ahluwalia’s eccentric new label, Moral Science, that has recently set up a studio-cum-workshop in Assagao.
Set in a beautiful old Portuguese house in Assagao, you can check out Isha's latest pieces, watch the karigars (all of whom are from different parts of the country) enmeshed in creating delicate hand embroidered patterns, or if you happen to catch Isha in a good mood, chat her up about a customised design, over a cup of coffee.
Isha herself is a design graduate who later went on to study millinery and spent many years in Bombay doing costumes for theatre and films. A visual storyteller of her own narrative, her rooting in the art of clothes comes through these characters whose stories she likes to tell. As a young girl, she’d find scraps of fabric and create something out of that — the same aesthetic of one-of-a-kind pieces also defines her collection. Almost 70% of her collection are one-off pieces, though if she likes you she might just agree to recreate a piece for you!
Her clothes naturally adhere to the ethics of slow fashion. The clothes are unisex and multisize, “whose size definitions should I adhere to?!” she laughs, and come in easy but sharp silhouettes, while the pastel shades and eclectic combinations of the palette lend them the cool vibe. Aesthetics of luxurious street fashion, combined with the sensibilities of high fashion, with one odd flair or pattern thrown in for drama, Moral Science designs are not for the mild-hearted. If however, you want to remind yourself ‘‘not to play with fire” go get yourself her flagship fanny pack, with said reminder hand-embroidered in baroque sequins.
At her studio you’ll often find her neck deep in her designs or drawings, conceptual sketches from which the accessories, pants, suits, jackets take shape. Amongst the subdued glamour of the very many styles, we fell in love with the handkerchief collection that has English alphabets embroidered in Braille as well as in sign language. Her ‘eye brooches’ in colourful sequins will definitely catch your eye as will the scooter caps!
We also hear that she is launching a T-shirt collection infused with the same idiosyncratic style soon. And while the pricing is slightly on the higher side, remember that you are investing in slow and ethical fashion, and almost bespoke pieces. The brooches start from INR 2000, while the fanny packs start at INR 7000 and go upwards, while the clothes range around INR 10,000 and upwards.