Of princess, pastel flowers and homegrown slow luxury brand, 'Akutee'
hand painted or hand embroidered, they would have been a family secret of the Ghatge royal women — a princess lovingly embellishing the clothes of her loved ones.
But thanks to cricketer Zaheer Khan's astute business sense, it turned into a homegrown "slow luxury" brand, 'Akutee'.
«Hand painted embellishments have been part of my childhood, my mum's been doing this for so long that I took it for granted. But my husband (Zaheer Khan) encouraged me to make it into a bespoke collection,» said Sagarika Ghatge, actor, model and former national-level hockey champ, who runs the label along with her mother, Urmila Ghatge.
The mother-daughter duo had unveiled their collection in Bengaluru at the Four Seasons. For the one-night-only event on May 16, the hotel's exclusive whisky parlour, The Collection, turned into a viewing room for a carefully curated collection of sarees, dupattas and blazers.
When they finally decided to take the plunge almost a year ago, 'Akutee', princess in Marati, became the natural choice for a brand name, said Ghatge.
«Well, she is a princess,» shrugged Khan. Ghatge added that the name is not just a nod to her lineage, but also an ode to all the women in her family.
«Akutee is a step back in time, to an era marked by impeccable taste and poise,» said Ghatge.
Design inspirations, she added, are straight out of the gardens of the royal Ghatge family of Kolhapur.
«My mother is really into gardening and often flowers that bloom in our garden find their way into our clothes as hand-painted
