Indian Fashion Designers

INDIAN FASHION DESIGNERS

SUNEET VARMA

Suneet Varma is called as the ‘Indian Style Guru’ is a very highly profiled fashion designer of Delhi. He is a very creative person who joined American school of design in London in 1986. After a degree in designing, he started a designing unit. He is a highly ornamental creator of garments.

He is a designer who creates outfits that evoke strong reactions. All types of silhouettes & dresses for both men & women are his products. He produces designs for fashion shows which he individually arranges not only in India, but also in London & Paris. Accessories for his creations are styled by himself to suit each garment.

The items he designs include saris, dresses, suits, skirts, frocks, etc. He uses chiffons, crepes, satins, georgettes, etc all clinging fabrics for his designs. He manufactures his products with his own brand name. Intensive experiments, preparations &long hours of research are the backbone of Suneet Varma’s collections. From western wear designs he has made a permanent transition to ethnic garments, lavish embellishment to them with embroidery techniques. He designs Indian garments with western silhouettes.

ROHIT BAL

Rohit Bal is called as “Indian master of fabric & fantasy”. He did his graduation from New Delhi’s St-stephens college with a first class (Hons.) degree in history.

He worked for a few years in his brother’s export company He draws inspiration from history, fantasy & folklore. He experiments with different colours following the golden rule i.e light for the day & heavier for evening. He uses matching colour of lingerie to the dress & hem and does wonderful hair colour to improve ensemble. These are some of the tips that he adopts while designing & presenting, which mesmerises the media.

He has had successful stand alone fashion shows in New York, London, Paris, Dubai, Singapore, Mauritius, Sao paolo & all the major cities in India including new Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Calcutta.

He was also chosen by the Khadi Gram Udyog to collaborate with khadi & design collections for them to sell in all their outlets. K.G.U is the largest handloom textile operation in India & Rohit Bal’s association with the same is a matter of great pride for him. He was awarded the designer of the year at the I.F.A fashion awards at the Kingfisher achievement awards 2001. Overall one can say he is really the India’s “MASTER OF FABRIC FANTASY”.

ROCKY SINGHVI

Rocky Singhvi, is one of the most successful designers in India & popularly known as Rocky.S. He is a commerce graduate with an inclination for the creative arts & studied fashion at the JD institute, Bombay. Rocky S, is one of the few Indian designers, who is concentrating on western wear in a big way. Rocky is a designer who believes in wearable clothes for different age groups of women.

He has set trends for men’s & women’s wear with his creations for the movies. Rocky’s first ever film star client was Akshay Kumar(whom he still designs for) & Manisha Koirala, Raveeena Tondon & Glamour Diva Rekha.

KIRAN UTTAM GHOSH

She is a graduate in Fashion at the Sophia polytechnic in Mumbai. She was trained under Jasper Conran in London. a finalist for the “Society Achievers Awards”. Her clothes currently retail from F folio (Banglore and Chennai), Ogaan (Delhi and Calcutta), Melange, Esemble, Vama and Crossroads in Mumbai. Elahe and origins in Hyderabad, Elan in Ahmedabad, Espee and Zenon in Calcutta are some of the others.

Her collections comprise luxurious, sensuous fabric-metallic nets, translucent jersey, lycra with lurex yarns sheer knits and crinkle crepes.

Kiran mostly utilizes yellow, blues, cream, purple, green shades etc. She has struck to simple cut and line designs and has done away with multilayered designs. Kirans’ label ‘KIMONO’ is one of Indias’ highest selling designer labels.

In January 2002 she received the prestigious ‘Kingfisher Fashion’ Award.

MANISH MALHOTRA

Graduated from Elphinstone College, Mumbai, Manish is a well known designer in new fashion world as well as in bollywood.

Malhotra uses clear & bold colours like black, red & opts for pastel colours like lilacs, lavenders, whites, creams pink & lemon instead. His garments include short kurtas with stoles, hip length tops, loose knit shirts, silk corsets & lycra trousers for women & kurtas , kurta shirts, full shirts, short shirts, jackets & draw strings for men. He likes lots of silk embroidery.

Malhotra is proud of the fact that he designed for Micheal Jackson. He attired Shahrukh khan & Amir khan on several occasions.

The awards he won include

·         The first only Film Fare Award for costume designed for Urmila in Rangeela.

·         The Show Time Poll Award for Raja Hindustani (Karishma Kapoor).

·         The Sier Choice Award for Dilto Pagal Hai

·         The Lux-Zee Cine Award for his work in Kuch Kuch Hota Hain.

RITU BERI

Ritu Beri graduated from Delhi University in 1987 and was amongst the first batch of 25 students from NIFT. She created a collection in her graduation and with them started a studio “LAVANYA” in December 1990.

She achieved instant success with this collection even in the fashion at London‘s regent street. Her collection “SANSKRITI” in 1995 was a breaking way of tracing her roots in the fashion industry. This was a cultural heritage in retrospect she divided her collection into four sequence.

Her clients are Bill Clinton, Nicole Kidman, Andy McDowell, Parmeshwar Godrej, M.F Hussein, Maduri Dixit and the royal family of Saudi Arabia. She works on charity for Indian Red Cross, Savera Association and many more. She is the only designer selected by a most fashionable company in Paris to deesign lines for one year period.

SABYASACHI MUKHERJEE

Sabyasachi Mukherjee, a new sensation from Kolkata is the youngest designer who has made his name in panorama of Indian Fashion. He graduated from NIFT Kolkata in 1999 and then focused on learning the intricacies of fashion industry of in Salisbury. This gave him a lot of exposure to the fashion world and started supplying to boutiques in India. Kolkata. He won the Times of India –British Council Most Outstanding Designer of India Award and was sent to London for internship with Georgina, a diverse designer. He designs both casual and party wears for women. He specialized in different types of bags, and head gear suiting to the dress and also designs for poets, artists, painters, with dresses having a very casual and informal look. Traveling, watching different cultures, deserts, gypsies, and antique textiles inspire him. His silhouettes include retro details, long and slim with lots of layering and layered skirts and jackets. His enrichments include –burnt effect, embroidery, use of laces, stains prints, rugged looks.

AWARDS WON

·         Ritu Kumar Award for excellence in design.

·         Femina British Councils Most Outstanding designer award

·         Grand winner award at Mercedes New Asia Fashion week in Singapore.

RITU KUMAR

Ritu Kumar has contributed in the revival of Indian crafts. In 1964 she graduated from Lady Irwin College., Delhi.

Ritu kumar mastered in Block prints, Kasuti, Chikankari to Zardosi, Bandini and Kalamkari which was used in her timeless ethnic wear for women. Ritu kumar was selected by Miss Universe & Miss World organizations to dress their International beauties, from Sushmita Sen, Ashwarya Rai, Manpreet Brar, Sandya Chib, Rani Jayaraj, to even Miss 1995. Ritu has dressed them in Indian finery couture to make an impact on the west. Ritu Kumar mostly designs bridal wear sarees. Ritu Kumar is creator of first chain of exclusive boutiques in India. She has her own distribution system. Four stores in Mumbai, one in Delhi, one in Amritsar has kept their locals in traditional wear. Her outfits have been worn by celebs like Jemina khan and Princess Diana.

TARUN TAHILIANI

Tarun, a graduate in Business Management is one of the top Indian designers. He has been designing since 1991 and has launched his own label. Drapes were his weaknesses because no other society uses the draped form as significantly as India. Many exotic ways- sari, dhoti, lungi, & orhni are draped by him. The tailored collections were body suits, jackets, skirts & capes. He has designed the jeweled blouses and traditional angarkhas with slightly revised shapes.

He launched his own label Ahilian and has an own couture. He mostly concentrated on Lucknow chikankari embroidery.

Thahiliani has been known to break many fashion rules in Indian wear too. It is a known fact that ethnic wear in India means gold & glitz especially on the collar and yoke. Basically Tarun is a women’s wear designer but he has tampered with men’s wear from time to time.