A Vision For Fashion

Partially-blind Geethika Kanumilli, known for her beautiful range of handcrafted Indian occasion wear, has used her keen eye to fashion her dreams

- Deepali Singh

Pop music stars are known to have an impact on young boys and girls, but for little Geethika Kanumilli, they held a fascination of another kind. From the Backstreet Boys to Jennifer Lopez, Spice Girls and Michael Jackson, it was their styling portrayed in the glamorous music videos that captured her imagination and she became obsessed with them. “I strived to be one of them so much that I began dressing like my role models,” says Kanumilli.

That the now 29-year-old would venture into the world of fashion was a given, but as the cliché goes, God was busy making other plans for her. Even before she could take the entrance test for one of the most prestigious fashion institutes in the country, she was diagnosed with Antiphospholipid Syndrome, an autoimmune disorder leading to abnormal blood clots, leading in turn to the loss of vision in one eye. It was a blow that understandably took a long time to come to terms with. Too young to process it at the time, Kanumilli was left grappling with what this meant for her dreams and ambitions. Overall, the future looked bleak.

However, there is something to be said about the hope and vigour of youth. Kanumilli did end up joining the National Institute of Fashion Technology in Hyderabad, but she had to quit in her second year because of complications in the eye.