MARIE-ANNE OUDEJANS

OF DUTCH ORIGIN, SHE LIVED IN PARIS, NEW YORK, ROME AND MADRID BEFORE INDIA BECKONED, ULTIMATELY MAKING THE PINK CITY HER HOME. THE TALENTED AESTHETE SHARES WITH HELLO! HER PASSION FOR CREATING BEAUTIFUL PIECES INSPIRED BY HER DIVERSE HERITAGE, TRADITIONS AND CULTURES, HER LOVE FOR FASHION AND ART, AND WHY TRAVEL REMAINS HER FIRST LOVE

- NOOR ANAND CHAWLA

When Marie-Anne Oudejans first visited India in 1996 as a 32-year-old, she fell in love with the royal aesthetic of Rajasthan. Her first port of call was Udaipur, where she was enchanted by the man-made lake and the 20th-century royal palace, Shiv Niwas. Yet, despite the affinity she felt for India, she hadn’t imagined that it would one day become her home.

FIRST STOP: FASHION

Originally from the Netherlands, Marie-Anne shuttled between her home country and Paris in her younger years. Both these cities played a role in shaping her as a designer. In Paris, she began assisting fashion stylists on projects for different fashion magazines including Vogue.

She recalls, “I started my career as an assistant stylist with several celebrity fashion stylists like Babeth Djian of Numero magazine. In my late 20s, I moved to New York to work with Joe McKenna, who is considered one of the world’s most influential fashion editors. I was his assistant for Italian Vogue along with some other projects.”

It was the 1990s, a thrilling time in the world of fashion as well as her life. One thing led to another, and soon she co-founded her own fashion label called Tocca. “It became a very popular brand in a short period of time and got lots of publicity. We also won the Perry Elise award for new talent in the year 1996 and opened our first stores in Tokyo and New York where we created fashion, home goods and fragrances.”

INDIA CALLING