Brief Encounters03 Feb 20253 MIN

Old saris are getting new life as hot girl fashion, thanks to this Jaipur creative

Laturia Shop’s Mihika Meena on her unique ‘stage name’, dream collabs, and her creative process

Mihika Meena aka Laturia, founder of Laturia Shop, shares her creative process with The Nod

Name: Mihika Meena aka Laturia

Profession: Art director and shop owner

Location: Jaipur

You should know her because: Laturia is the multitasking creative behind Laturia Shop, a fledgling label that reimagines forgotten or lesser-known textiles as bold, contemporary clothing. When she’s not helping brands perfect their visual identity as an art director, she’s breathing new life into old garments—think vibrant, wearable bomber jackets and miniskirts stitched from blingy vintage saris like the ones in the back of your grandma’s closet.

How Laturia Shop was born: “It happened so randomly. My husband and I run a communications agency called Anukrm. I started my Instagram page, Le Laturia, as an outlet to just post things I see and like around me. My mom is a trained designer and though she never pursued it, she always made clothes for us. Last year, we were working on this pair of jeans to which we added patches of fabric, gota, and other things we found around the house. I put it out on my Instagram page. Turned out, it was something that people wanted to buy.”

On her moniker: “In Marwari, my native language, ‘laturia’ means long, messy hair. I have really long, really messy hair, and people would always tell me, ‘Tie your laturia.’ I liked how it sounded and thought it represents me well because I’m a little messy and I like a bit of imperfection in everything—so it’s like my stage name.”

Laturia Shop founder Mihika Meena's long, messy braid adorned with parandis
Laturia’s long, messy braid adorned with parandis

The first piece she ever sold: “The Mom Made jeans. Claire MacDonald, a producer from Italy, wore them to the Cannes Film Festival.”

On her two-pronged approach: “There are two sides to Laturia Shop. One is the upcycling part where I work with different materials like denim and saris. The second is what I call Textile Travel, where I explore lesser-known Indian textiles and try to give them a contemporary spin. Right now, we’re working with mashru and khes, which are traditionally used to make blankets. The idea was to repurpose a textile that’s been used in Indian households for years in a fresh, new way. There’s a lot of colour, a lot of texture, and a dash of bling. I can’t define it in a word, but everything we make has a sort of Indianness to it.”

Her creative process: “The materials are usually the starting point. I love exploring and collecting textiles from my travels and make it a point to see what’s in the museums. I also like to see what the locals consume and wear, especially in rural India.”

Where she goes hunting for textiles: “I’ve been collecting saris from my family—mainly from my mom and nani—that weren’t being worn because of a little tear or a spot. Now, I source saris from this vintage textile collector in Ahmedabad, and the denim is sourced from online thrift shops. I also source mashru directly from artisans in Kutch, and khadi from the Khadi Gram Udyog.”

Why she’s in no rush to scale up: “At its core, Laturia Shop will always be made-to-order or in small batches because I don’t want to create waste.”

A dream collaboration: “I would love to work with a sportswear brand like Nike. Imagine combining saris with sportswear—it would be so interesting to explore.”

Who she’s hoping to see her clothes on: “Diljit Dosanjh, hands down, even though I haven’t made anything for men yet. I also love [musician] Erykah Badu. Artists and creatives from the Indian diaspora like Rajakumari or model Neelam Gill. And then there’s Jackie Shroff and Dimple Kapadia—they’re legends.”

How to buy from Laturia Shop: Her studio in Jaipur, located in the Santha Bagh hotel, is by appointment only. For everyone else, her pieces will soon pop up on select global platforms and are always available through Instagram DMs.

The Nod Newsletter

We're making your inbox interesting. Enter your email to get our best reads and exclusive insights from our editors delivered directly to you.