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Mona Patel ‘s statement-making looks have made her one to watch on the couture scene. However, style is just one part of Patel’s active lifestyle. Aside from Couture Week and the red carpet, Patel is a businesswoman and philanthropist—whose various projects include her real estate company Mona Lisa Properties, healthcare tech start-up radXai, and nonprofit organization Couture for Cause. We sat down with the busy fashionista to discuss her viral Met Gala look, fashion inspirations, and how she balances her very full schedule.
Tell us about your professional or work background—a lot of people are wondering what you do professionally!
RadXai is our imaging organization. We’re in multiple states providing healthcare and diagnostic services. For the real estate side, I’m working on multiple projects in Florida and California for high-end residential homes. Most of our clinics, which [are] in the healthcare space, are built and owned by the real estate arm [Mona Lisa Properties] that I lead and manage. Between those two things, I have a very active role in life. I also am day-to-day involved in the AI startup that funds and aids the radXai imaging business. I keep my hands full with within those three organizations.
Mona Patel
Tell us about your viral Met Gala look! How did you interpret this year’s theme?
The Met look was something that I felt I needed an inspiration that was “Garden of Time,” that was “Reawakening Fashion,” and I’d done a bit of research on what the theme was. I also went to the archives with Andrew Bolton at the Met with the curator, and I was inspired by something that’s more classic [and] timeless. Being Indian, it was technically a lotus flower that was my inspiration, even though I think the public’s interpretation was a butterfly situation. For me, it was the rebirth and reawakening, which is a symbol of the lotus flower—which is our national flower in India. It symbolizes purity, rebirth, and awakening, and that’s what I had given Iris van Herpen as my inspiration when I was talking what I wanted to dress to feel like. At that point in time, there was no kinetic movement or pieces, and went along with that inspiration and we had multiple iterations throughout the process. One thing I knew [was] I wanted to support a woman haute couture designer, somebody as incredibly talented as Iris, because I love her style. At the same time, I wanted it to be a bit of me, which is more incorporating Indian embroidery, my roots, and culture that came through with the zardozi embroidery that was in combination with printed elements that were in the gown. That was a good contrast, and also very exciting to incorporate that and see how it was coming along. Literally three weeks before the Met, I came across this artist who had nothing to do with the fashion world—but he was a sculptor that made phonetic movements, mainly for display. I had this dream if I could make my dress multi-sensory based on what I had seen at the museum, and this year’s theme of the exhibition that was the inspiration for the art piece. I sketched it out on paper in the middle of the night, at 2 a.m. I called the next day and said, “Could you make something like this?” And he said, “Absolutely not. It’s three weeks out,” and we still made it happen. That was actually the storytelling behind what that kinetic arm piece was.
Mona Patel
What was your experience like at the Met Gala? How elaborate was your process when getting ready that day?
The morning of was actually very calm, to be honest. I was not expecting anything, because I didn’t know what to expect. It was this whole realm of, “You’re going to go in unknown,” but at the same time I knew I didn’t have any pressure, in a sense—nobody knew who I was. I had to do my best for myself and making sure I’m representing Anna [Wintour], and my community that I was connected with, and how I got the invite to the Met. I felt I almost had done 110%. I gave it everything that I had, and the morning of was a very systematic approach to what I wanted with my team. I’m all about processes and schedules—being an entrepreneur, running businesses, I usually incorporate that even into my other walks of life, including fashion. I had the timeline. We had to treat it almost like a production. It’s a call sheet, everybody for hair and makeup, and I was in the comfort of my home—that made it really wonderful. I have seen a lot of celebrities and people get ready at The Mark or the car ride, and I thought I should be there. But I have amazing place in the city at Columbus Circle, and I [wanted] to get ready at home. That made a huge difference, because when you’re in the comfort of your home and have your things your way, it just psychologically helps you and calms you down.
Mona Patel
You’ve been busy at Paris Fashion Week’s couture shows this summer. What were some of your highlights?
I love Couture Week. Ready-to-wear [Fashion] Weeks are usually very crazy, but Couture Weeks are special. I usually attend shows [for] which I love the brands. For me, [that] was Schiaparelli, Giambattista Valli, and those are brands that I am a client at. I love watching the creativity of these designers and wanting to be there to get a firsthand on the show. Schiaparelli was first time I worked with before. One of them was a backup for the Met, which the world hasn’t seen yet. It was my first time attending the show, and I wore a kinetic arm accessory piece. It was all gold, and I wore it to the show. The energy for the shows at Couture Week [are] mostly clients, a few celebrities, but people who love couture. That’s the community you want to be in. My highlight was Stéphane Rolland and Schiaparelli. Stéphane is an amazing person. He’s a dear friend, and I wore him to Vogue World: Paris this year, and I was his guest. He was with me the entire night. His creativity is very, very, very inspirational.
What are some of your favorite fashion brands or designers and why?
I have a wide range. My first love was [Alexander] McQueen. I will always be a McQueen girl. I was never into fashion. If you know a bit about my background, I was a tomboy growing up, and I didn’t know anything about fashion. I didn’t have any designers that were favorites. But in 2011 when I saw McQueen’s exhibition at the Met and [was] just getting a bit into the fashion world, that was the brand that resonated the most with me. I call it the “romantic warrior.” It’s still edgy, powerful, and has this subtle, feminine side to it. That is what attracts my aesthetic. My aesthetic is being strong, powerful in your looks, yet elegant and classic. Marrying that contrast is always what I’m looking for in brands, so McQueen is been my favorite for a very long time.
Mona Patel
What are some pieces in your closet that have a really special meaning to you?
This last one from the Met was something extremely special. It’s something I created. I literally put my blood, sweat, and tears into creating it, and I feel like that will be something I will treasure for life. Especially the kinetic arm piece—but I was telling my other friends I will be donating it at some point to the Met. It will forever stay in my closet, but that will forever be cherished for sure. [It] has such a deep meaning to me, because I put what I knew about fashion into creating that look. Bringing it together was a huge effort—even my limited knowledge of fashion, because I’m not from that world. Traditionally, I am an entrepreneur, so I am really proud of what we’ve seen.
You’re a professional businesswoman and philanthropist. What are some of your current ventures?
I am a serial entrepreneur. I love creating new businesses. My first one was in real estate. I am a real estate broker and developer by profession. My first company, I started in 20 years ago, actually 2004. I’m an immigrant from India, my dad is a developer in India. I always wanted to do something in real estate, and growing up that was probably the riskiest thing I think I had done as a 22-year-old at that time, but it’s evolved. We’ve done great, and you learn so much in the journey and in the process. I also have married a physician, and we started and co-founded our first imaging clinic together. That was 17 years ago, and currently we’re in multiple states. It’s an outpatient diagnostic imaging clinic business called radXai, and currently we’re also with two startups that we’re founding. We’re using AI to improve patient care as well as diagnostic capabilities for our radiologists in the healthcare business. My active roles are in the real estate and healthcare imaging world currently, along with the startup. It’s been a great journey to see how we’ve evolved over time.
Mona Patel
How have you seen the business and healthcare landscape change over the years?
It’s changed a lot. These are two separate things. In healthcare, I can speak very clearly. We as a country are experiencing things where the access to health or healthcare has evolved in the last 17 years. Our job as providers is to make sure that we can provide seamless care whenever and whenever it’s needed with the most advanced technology. That’s been our motto. We’ve evolved ourselves as business leaders or founders, my husband and I. We’ve put ourselves through executive education over the last three years. Between both of us, [we] went to Harvard, Stanford, I got my MBA from MIT last year. That has all has contributed [to] how we evolve as a company, as well as our leadership styles in terms of culture, what we bring to the table as founders, and how we inspire our team to achieve goals that we set—as well as provide better care in the healthcare field. For me, in real estate, [it] also helped me evolve deals much better and much more technological literacy—which is up to date with AI, and integrating more technology for better efficiency and profitability. We’ve evolved as individuals, getting wiser. We learn from our failures and experiences. Also, education is a key role in constantly being able to learn new things and passing it along to your team and inviting them to do better. We constantly push them and encourage them to go into executive programs of learning a new skill. We’re about personal growth, as well as company and our goals. That’s the core center of our values in both of our organizations.
What’s a piece of advice you would give an upcoming entrepreneur starting their first business?
Don’t be fearful of failure. That is something that’s part of the process. You learn from failures. You always learn from it, and you have to keep believing in yourself. You have to constantly keep evolving, believing in yourself, and having the grit as well as the perseverance. That is what leads to success in business.
You’ve had a busy summer, starting with the Met and then going into Couture Week—and even Dolca & Gabbana’s Alta Moda show! What else is coming up for you this season?
I have a small nonprofit called Couture for Cause that I started seven years ago. It was just born purely from my love of giving back and using fashion as the media to bring awareness and raise funds for girls’ education in India. We support grassroots organizations in India that need the funding and are doing the work in the space, especially in my hometown and around in my state. I believe the only way to equality, or coming up in life is education, especially in India—and having that is a really empowering tool for these young girls. I’m going to Fashion Month in September [and] have a few events around that, now that I have a wider platform and access to raise more awareness for these classroom organizations that are doing the hard work. Experience with Dolce & Gabbana and Alta Moda, it’s been amazing. But they’re also catalysts where they help, because they want to enter into the Indian market, support the organizations in some way and form, be it donating a piece or seats or to their shows. It’s been very collaborative with brands. I’m excited for the summer and seeing what I could do through my nonprofit to bring more awareness.
All images: Courtesy of Mona Patel
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