November - Eden by MP

Co-creators at the brand, Mahima and Prathana Shreshtha are a duo of two high energy, fun and insanely creative sisters based out of Kathmandu, Nepal. They’re also the co-creators of a bridal wear boutique in Nepal called ‘MP Luxury Bridal’.

Eden by MP was a Pret line by the sisters in order to cater to a larger audience. When asked what was their motivation behind this brand, they said, “Since bridal wear is quite limiting in terms of creativity and audience we ventured out into Eden which can cater towards a larger audience and we can also move around freely in terms of the design aspect.”

A social media and film making fanatic, Prathana makes for a perfect companion to the artistic, and the lead stylist at the brand, Mahima.

1. Give us a short introduction of your brand?

Eden by MP is a Pret clothing line which focuses on projecting a dream-like state of garments where we focus mostly on the flow and fall of fabrics.

2. Tell us something about the brand name. Why Eden? How did you come up with it?

Since the core idea for Eden is a dream like state and the tagline for our primary brand ‘MP Luxury Bridal’ is “ Bringing imaginations to life” we wanted to continue the similar flow of the ‘imagination’ aspect with Eden which is the garden where, according to the account in Genesis, Adam and Eve first lived as well as a state of paradise.

3. You’ve got a very quirky, colorful logo. Tell us more about it, the meaning and the inspiration?

The logo of Eden consists of a Journey the Panther and Aqua the flamingo. Here the magical creatures Panther and Flamingo are a representation of Prathana and Mahima respectively where Journey represents the resilience and drive of a panther to keep moving forward and Aqua the flamingo is a powerful symbol for recognising the joy and beauty in life.

‘Journey’ is a symbol of valour, courage and determination and her gleaming pink eyes represent passion, romance and charm. The flirtatious pink ‘Aqua’ represents confidence, beauty, balance and grace.

4. What was your inspiration and idea behind Eden?

The inspiration for Eden came to us during the period of the first wave of Covid-19 when everything became a standstill. Through the whimsical garments of Eden we wanted to create an escape not only for us as designers but for our clientele as well.

5. What’s your USP and who’s your target audience?

Since Nepal is a small market there isn’t much playfulness that has been delved into in terms of garment designs and construction hence we believe the aesthetic and the designs that we have introduced for the current market of Nepalese Fashion is our USP as something like this has not been done here before by local designers. Our target audience falls under the age bracket of 16-30 years and our garments are targeted for instagram/editorial shoots rather than regular daily wear.

6. You just launched, how has the response been so far?

The response has been pretty good so far from the Nepalese media more than customer outreach. We expect a pickup on the sales aspect after a few more pieces are added to the collection.

7. Which director do you envision your brand going in?

We want to take our brand more towards the art aspect of fashion rather than sales by adding some more magical touches towards the designs of our future collections. We want to steer more towards avant garde pieces rather than commercial ready to wear.

8. You’re working on a new collection. Would you like to tell us something about it?

Our new collection takes a lot of inspiration from French fashion. For our second capsule collection we have tried to incorporate a fusion of key Nepali garments with the inspirations from garments worn on popular renaissance era paintings.

9. Is there any message you’d like to convey to the audiences?

We hope Eden inspires aspiring fashion students and enthusiasts who aspire to unleash their creativity in terms of elaborate and out of the box fashion garments rather than limiting themselves due to the limited market scope in our small country and focusing upon just the fact whether the garment will sell or not.