PEOPLE

& stories

Freedom Tree, it’s in the name. We’re all about being Free, and this collection celebrates women of all ages and their free-spirited femininity. As a women owned and (largely) women run brand, we’re so proud of the way this collection celebrates the working woman, the stay at home mom, the creative spirits, the boss-lady professionals, the women just starting out in life, and the grace of women in their golden years. We design for all women with an ageless spirit, to inspire confidence, playfulness, and boldness through what they wear.

We photographed this collection with real women, and inspiring women, all of them with a story to tell, and a free-spirited pose to spare for us. We can’t wait to see how all the women out there mix and match these outfits with a free-spirited abandon.

Devina

Sunny and Smart 

Corporate Lawyer, New Mom

Devina enters a room with a fresh and free air. Never without a wide smile on her face, she is incredibly comfortable in her own skin. Always wonderfully turned out and put together, yet so real and relaxed when she gets talking. Devina loves wearing fun clothes, experimenting with silhouettes and we delighted in inviting her to try on some of our new womenswear in front of the camera.

Studying at India’s top law-school and and then lawyering in London, Devina returned to India to continue her career. Effortlessly transitioning from girl boss to boss-mom, with a characteristic blend of elegance and good humor.   

Pooja

The Bubbly Empath 

Practicing Psychologist 

Raw and soft around the edges. Pooja’s moodboard would include bubblegum and tattoos. You can’t pull wool over her eyes, or try and beat her in a game of Scrabble. Pooja is secretly a huge fan of fashion. Yet apart from a weakness for bags, she maintains an low-key sartorial style of classic crops, basics, and thrift finds.

Pooja is fiercely independent. After completing her Masters in Psychology, she set up and built her own practice during the pandemic. Since then through in-person and online sessions, she has been empowered hundreds of clients to take onus over their lives and decisions.

Deepa Kudva Kamath

Branding Boss 

Founder & CEO Branding Agency Amplify Digital

Deepa comes from a family of individualistic women. Brought up to be an independent thinker she is also fiercely curious. Armed with an encyclopedic memory she peels away layers of the current and unravels things to find their roots. Migrations of people, habits and practices ....she's a design anthropologist! An alumni of NID, she continues to learn from peers all the time. Deepa has built a career as a ‘branding boss’ with over two decades of experience setting up, recruiting for and managing design studios. As founder and Design Director of boutique agency, Amplify Digital, Deepa has moved cities and locations effortlessly. Her trick: if there is design trail and a cultural context to be found in the city, she feeds herself on it, easily connecting with people and the place.

Belying her dignified appearance, this tall grey haired lady dissolves easily into peals of laughter. We think of her having boxed and savored her life in delicious bits like a chocolate sampler: balancing career, wellness and family. Deepa and Suresh's home is a jewel filled with contemporary materials and colors. Eating a meal at her table is a gift. Bringing her Mangalorean recipe repertoire to the fore. Impeccably dressed whether in the most artisanal sarees with a story to tell, or in trendy pret-ware. Her life journey is best described by the route she takes while practicing for the marathon. She always takes the scenic route. And at the right moment stops to breathe in the views! 

Harshita

Pleasant Patternmaker 

Textile & Print Designer @ Freedom Tree 

Harshita’s ready radiance is incandescent when she walks into work. Her natural personal palette for work is soft and nuanced. Wonderful with color, she effortlessly moves between what would be called fresh girly colors of peach and pink to moody reticent achromatic tones of olive and clay. Everyday is a new expression, but very much in character. As a textile designer at Freedom Tree, she flirts with technology to explore ever-new possibilities in design. Very hands on with materials, texture and color, one really has to see her come to life, working with thread and fabric. 

She organizers herself, relentlessly explores options and has conviction about her final design. Gamine & equally comfortable in short dresses and boots or oversized men’s shirts. Her go to piece: is what is nearly a goth belt. Harshita frugally combines this with frilly frocks, or rocks it when she wears it over a saree in sartorial style. This pliable and pleasant designer holds herself together with a self imposed sense of discipline while cheekily taking in the city she now calls home. 

Sneh Lata

Golden Gal

Grandmother, M.A., Athethe

“I’ve lived through partition you know, so we can handle this COVID. Sneh Lata Puri has a spirit that never goes out of style. Constantly collecting fabrics on her travels to make up smart Punjabi suits and salwars. Always impeccabley dressed for company, with jewelery to match. We’re featuring her for her love of dressing up and all that she has accomplished in life.  

An M.A. in History, Sneh moved from Lahore to Delhi during partition to rebuild her life. An athlethe who ran track in school. Raising two children who lost their father as teenagers, and a doting grandmother.

Purnota 

Many Missions

Founder & CEO, Cuddles Foundation  

Purnota's classic good looks come from her Bengali heritage. As does her love for the bold and gold. Resplendent in a stunning saree at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, when she received her award for the Cuddles Foundation. We’re featuring Purnota because of her fierce and free personality and her incredibly inspiring work. Purnota saw the impact of the lack of nutrition on kids with cancer firsthand during a visit to Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. She left her decade long career in corporate India to fight childhood cancer and Cuddles Foundation was born.

A small donation can provide healthy and nutritious meals, supplements, and fruits for these children. Do head on over to cuddlesfoundation.org to learn more about their incredible work and contribute. Purnotas has been unafraid to be bold in the personal choices for her home. Passion colors and a clash of print are her starting points. In her home she shows a great sensitivity to each family member. A masculine man cave for Gunjan her supportive husband, a special nook for her older girl, all while accommodating her twin babies.  

Mrudul

Always Trending

Editor, Elle Decor 

Helming the creative side of one of India’s most admired and loved publications, Mrudul has a finger on the pulse of changing Indian spaces and interiors. Her keen eye is the lens through which we receive commentary on the evolution and attitude of Indian space design for a younger set. Mrudul transforms her looks. Coming from a very individualistic art school in Baroda, one can just imagine her in artsy boho mode. Now, differently poised, her graceful gray hair is her leitmotif.

She effortlessly slips out of monochrome into swirling Freedom Tree prints, and it was such a joy to spend an afternoon with her styling her in our most colorful and bold styles. Seeing Mrudul work putting together a mood board, is like a haiku. She effortlessly works thru multiple options and with minimal waste, unerringly knows what the visual has to say.