The Beginning  We were born and brought up in Mumbai, India. Our father was a musician who used to tour abroad and bring back clothes from the US and UK. He loves Jazz music and the way he dressed was quite American, and his taste in clothing and music must have had an effect on us:  he was the first one in his friend circle to wear denim jeans. 

Like every other kid in our building, we grew up watching cartoons like Captain Planet and the Jetsons. Globalization was, (and still is) on the brink, and so we had a sense of what was going on internationally. We were big fans of Britney Spears, Beyonce and many other pop singers. We used to go to our local bookstore and buy magazines like Teen Vogue, Vogue UK and US, L’Officiel 1000 Models and other international magazines that were available. The internet was a great source of information as well; we used to research the brands that we saw in the magazines from an early age.

 

In September 2010, we both enrolled in the Pattern Cutting and Womenswear BA course at the London College of Fashion (LCF). We had considered options like Parsons in New York and Marangoni in Italy, but Parsons was going to be a four-year course and we thought living in Italy would be a bit difficult because of the language. We had also visited London on holiday in 2001, and really loved the city. So we decided to go to LCF! Moving to London polished our design and technical skills and helped us shape our aesthetic. Because it was higher education, LCF’s teaching approach was more like mentoring. We had no exams – only project hand-ins. They would give us all the resources and advice, but leave it up to the students to decide how much they wanted to learn. 

During the semi-final round of the LVMH Prize, we had to present our collection to a panel of 40 industry experts which included names like Carine Roitfeld, Tim Blanks, Patrick Demarchelier and others. But little did we know about the people who were going to attend the cocktail event that evening. In the span of two hours we met almost the entire fashion industry. We shook hands with Anna Wintour, Hamish Bowles, Karl Lagerfeld, Nicholas Ghesquiere, Bernard Arnault, Kanye West and so many others.

Mentor Rob Phillips, who is the Creative Director of the Design courses, is a real visionary. The first lecture we attended of his in our first year was about research in design. We were so inspired by the way he explained things, it really gave us perspective and direction. 

LVMH Prize Finalists – 2014 We just applied online. Then, we got a phone call from them saying that we had been selected as one of the 30 semi finalists. We were thrilled! We were invited to Paris for the first round and there we were judged by a panel of 40 experts, who then cast their votes and selected 12 finalists. This experience has really sped everything up. Now we know how to show our next collections and really grow in a steady manner. We also met so many people from the industry. We never thought we could meet so many people, because no one from our family is in the fashion business.

 

We believe in Jesus. We can’t imagine our lives without knowing God. He has taken us through some hard times and it gives us joy to know that our future is in His hands.

 

Designing As A Duo It comes quite naturally to us. We don’t draw together on the same page. We do decide on the mood or theme of the collection together and then gather our own research images, sketch etc … and then bring them together and select the line up. Sometimes we even mix each others ideas for an outfit. We resolve any creative conflict quite calmly. Because we are sisters, we can be very honest with each other, so it works out well.

The name MIUNIKU comes from joining our nicknames together. (Tina – ‘miu’ and Nikita – ‘niku’) We started working together as MIUNIKU from the final term of our 2^nd year at LCF. We made our AW13 collection as part of our 2^nd year final project and we made our AW14 collection as part of our 3^rd year final project.  (We skipped our SS14 season because we were studying.) Our final year show at LCF was the first time we saw our clothes on a runway. We had dreamt about it forever, and to finally see it presented was a real joy.

Digital References National Geographic Stock Photography, Instagram accounts of favourite artists, Pinterest, Tumblr, Used Mag

Mumbai vs London Up until now, we have made both our collections in London. We have just started to do production. We are extending our base to London so that we can have our design studio there and be more accessible to the international market, buyers and press, and hopefully will be part of London Fashion week in the future. We will be maintaining our production base in Mumbai, doing some production in house and outsourcing some to local factories. We haven’t really had the chance to be involved in the fashion circle in India. We have not had many interactions but whomever we have met have been very encouraging! We are Indians and that will never change – and it’s such an honour to represent our country wherever we go.

Work History MIUNIKU:  2013 – present