#BazaarWomenInFocus: Style icon Mona Patel believes fashion is freedom

At the Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year 2025 awards, held in Mumbai on October 25, Mona Patel was celebrated as the Style Icon of the Year—a title that truly captures her essence. Entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, Patel represents a new era of women who see style not as luxury, but as self-expression and liberation.

When she walked onto the stage to receive her award, poised and radiant, she reflected on her journey of redefining what fashion meant to her. She said, "It is such an honour to be among these iconic women, and I am so blessed to be here tonight. I never thought fashion was for me while I was growing up. I had to choose between being smart or stylish, ambitious or feminine. So for me, style is not just about fashion.
It’s about freedom. Freedom to express who you are and taking up space doing it."

"I want to dedicate this award to anyone who has ever felt that they had to shrink to fit in. To the young girl who wore her dad’s blazer to feel powerful. To the woman who chose purpose over permission. This award is for you," she concluded.

For Patel, fashion has always been about more than appearance—it’s about identity, autonomy, and storytelling.

An entrepreneur and investor, Patel has built her career at the intersection of innovation and artistry. But it’s her deep love for haute couture that truly distinguishes her. Over the years, she has built an enviable personal collection of couture pieces from the world’s most celebrated houses—archiving them not just as garments, but as cultural artefacts that tell stories of craftsmanship, creativity, and heritage.

Through her non-profit initiative, Couture for Cause, Patel channels this passion into philanthropy—funding programmes that support girls’ education and women’s entrepreneurship across the globe. Her belief is simple yet profound: fashion can be a tool for empowerment. What we wear, she often says, can reflect what we believe in.

In a world that often demands women to fit into narrow definitions of beauty, ambition, or femininity, Patel stands as proof that one can inhabit all identities at once. She is as comfortable in a boardroom as she is in a Balenciaga gown, and she brings the same curiosity and conviction to both spaces.

At the Bazaar Women of the Year stage, surrounded by peers who redefine what it means to be successful, Patel’s message was both timeless and urgent: fashion is freedom.

In a world of fast trends and fleeting fame, Mona Patel stands for something enduring—a vision of style rooted in purpose. She reminds every woman watching that the most powerful thing she can wear is her own story.
 

Also read: Mona Patel on turning fashion into therapy at Bazaar’s Women of the Year 2025

Also read: Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year Awards 2025: The game-changing winners you need to know