How Appliqué Became Aisha Rao’s Signature

Some houses find their signature in fabric; we found ours in fragments.

Every collection begins the same way: a table scattered with leftover cloth, cut-out florals, bits of colour that refuse to be quiet. We gather them, arrange them, lift them into form, and appliqué becomes the bridge between imagination and cloth. 

Appliqué didn’t become our signature by design. It began as a necessity, an instinct to save what most would discard—small scraps, odd shapes, colours that didn’t belong anywhere except in our world. 

The first time we stitched those fragments together, something shifted. It became an identity… a proof that beauty can come from what endures, not only from what’s chosen. Over time, appliqué stopped being a mere technique.

It became our heartbeat. The way we build surfaces, honour craft, and tell stories—fragment by fragment, layer by layer—until the garment feels alive. In this edit, we revisit the craft that built our silhouette: appliqué in all its nuance, imagination, and instinct, and hope it speaks to you the way it has spoken to us for years.

Why We Return to Appliqué, Season After Season

Applique has always held emotional weight for us. Each motif carries the possibility of reinvention. By layering cutwork, beadwork, aari stitches, zardozi highlights, macramé threads, and repurposed fabrics, we build surfaces that reveal themselves slowly.

It’s a technique that allows for excess without heaviness, drama without rigidity, and detail without clutter. It is where art meets engineering, and imagination is translated stitch by stitch.

Across Collections like Trencadís, Kinfolk, Paper Dolls, Wild at Heart, Matilda, and Divergence, appliqué remains our anchor. Even as silhouettes shift and palettes evolve, the craft stays personal, emotional, and unmistakably ours.

In an interview with Firstpost, our founder Aisha shared the heart of this philosophy: “Our journey with appliqué started as a way to give leftover fabrics a second life, and season after season, we’ve refined it into a signature craft that’s both artistic and sustainable.” It is this instinct to create beauty with intention that continues to shape our surfaces today.

The Craft That Carries Our Philosophy of Mindful Luxury

Upcycling isn’t an afterthought for us, but rather the foundation of our appliqué grammar. Many motifs begin as fabric remnants:

• scraps of tissue

• shards of raw silk

• pieces of organza

• fragments from older experimentations

They are trimmed, shaped, layered, and reimagined. This mindful reuse creates depth of textures that feel alive and irregular, in the best way possible. 

The variations in colour, stitching, and placement aren’t flaws. They’re evidence of the human hands behind every piece. No two motifs, no two surfaces, no two garments are ever identical.

This is the same philosophy that shaped entire collections like Wild at Heart, Matilda, and Kinfolk (our biggest collection so far), where upcycling takes centre stage, and appliqué becomes a testament to conscious couture. It also aligns with what Aisha expressed to Firstpost:

“We work closely with artisans to ensure their skills are celebrated. Whether it’s embroidery or appliqué, these crafts bring soul and authenticity to our work.” She added, “Being vocal for local is about pride in our roots, innovating within tradition, and shaping a fashion future that is unmistakably Indian.”

This craft, therefore, is not just a technique. It is responsibility, philosophy, and identity.

Appliqué allows us to build clothing that holds memory, craftsmanship, and individuality at once, a couture language that refuses uniformity.

How Appliqué Shapes Our Modern Silhouette

And while the technique itself is steeped in tradition, our application of it is intentionally contemporary. We place appliqué in ways that sculpt silhouettes and enhance the natural lines of the body:

• Directionally placed motifs shape the waist and open the skirt.

• Layered florals and abstract shapes add dimension to tulle, crepe, and organza.

• High-contrast cutwork elevates corsets, blouses, jackets, and menswear panels.

• Metallic hints appear like quiet glimmers instead of overpowering shine.

Whether it’s the fluidity of a pre-draped saree or the architecture of a couture gown, appliqué is what ties every piece back to our house identity. It creates a visual consistency that is instantly recognisable, even from across a room.

This consistency is why appliqué threads through every Aisha Rao chapter, from the surrealist prints of Kinfolk to the dramatic sculptural forms of Wild at Heart 2.0, to the storybook dreamscapes in Paper Dolls.

Why Appliqué Has Become Our Signature

Through appliqué, we build worlds of lush gardens, surreal landscapes, childlike wonderlands, mosaics, underwater scenes, and architectural memories. Every collection becomes a chapter, and every garment becomes a paragraph from a larger universe.

Whether it's the tile-inspired mosaics in Trencadís, the wild botanicals in Wild at Heart, the pastel haveli nostalgia in Banafsh, or the marine-inspired textures of Starboard, appliqué carries our universe forward stitch by stitch.

Appliqué isn’t just what we do. It is who we are as a house.

It offers fantasy with discipline, romance with structure, and individuality with polish. And most importantly, it celebrates the human hand—the artisans, the karigars, and the quiet labor of imagination. 

Explore our appliqué-driven couture, crafted from fragments, imagination, and the belief that every motif deserves a second life.

Frequently Asked Questions 

1. Why is appliqué central to your design identity?

Because it blends craft, imagination, and upcycled materials into the storytelling surfaces that define our collections.

2. How is appliqué created in your pieces?

Each motif is cut, layered, and hand-stitched using aari, zardozi, macramé, and fabric remnants, building textured couture surfaces.

3. Are appliqué garments heavy to wear?

Not at all. We design for movement, using tulle, crepe, organza, and tissue to keep the pieces light and fluid.

4. Which outfits showcase your signature appliqué most strongly?

Our pre-draped sarees, lehengas, gowns, and menswear across collections like Wild at Heart, Matilda, and Kinfolk.

5. Are appliqué pieces unique to each wearer?

Yes. Variations in colour, stitch, and placement reflect the handmade nature of our work, ensuring no two garments are identical.