Coming from a family of homeopathic doctors with a 97-year legacy, Dr Sreelakshmi Prakash was groomed to follow her family’s profession from childhood. But this 27-year-old adopts another persona during her free time — fashion designer/makeup artist/stylist Janki Prakash, making a mark for herself in the South Indian industry. "When I was six years old, I made a dress out of a bag for my cousin. I realised my true interest early on," says Janki.
After completing her studies in Medicine, Janki worked full-time as an assistant physician at her father's clinic at Kozhikode for three years before leaving to pursue a degree in fashion designing from ESMOD in Jakarta, Indonesia. Here, she learnt the basics of designing and the technicalities of fashion and later went on to learn draping at ESMOD Dubai. But Janki, the designer never lost sight of the fact that she was first Sreelakshmi, the doctor, "Since college, I was also working as a designer. I used to go to the shops and tailors after class. Likewise in Kozhikode, I would fulfil orders after my clinic hours. So, I was already following my passion for a long time, but it was second on the priority list," she says.
Rationalising the similarities between Medicine and fashion, Janki says, "Medicine has taught me that no person is the same; every human is different and that treatment should be directed specifically, based on each person’s nature. Similarly in designing, every person is different — the things they like, the way they think and the way they look at themselves. So, we must cater to them specifically too." When her work doesn't take her away, she attends to patients at her clinic twice a week.