Let's rewind to the 1970s; a new era that would firmly affix Mumbai’s status as the nation’s fashion capital. The city’s fashionistas awoke to Bombay’s (as it was known then) first-ever ‘designer’ exhibition. On offer were block-printed cotton salwar kameez sets (today’s co-ords) and sarees by Mita Parekh, a city-based textile artist who would go on to dress some of the era’s most sought-after names. Parekh’s design lens was unlike the maximalist aesthetic that had begun seeping into traditional Indian wear from Delhi-based designers. Her use of block prints, soft pastel tones, and minimalist but sharply contemporary motifs and colour combinations, struck a chord immediately.

Parekh's prints on a saree from an exhibition held in the 1980s