They are as enthusiastic as teenagers on their first date. Young and feisty, their confidence comes from knowing that Lakme Fashion Week's (LFW) laurels rest on their shoulders. Whether they are just a couple of seasons old or the Liberty Gen Next designers, they together are the 'New New', for whom the propensity to bite the bullet or fall is equally likely. So what sets them apart? Are they really there for the long haul or will they fly-by-night with the Warholian nemesis of fifteen minutes of fame?

"I feel that as a part of the young designer brigade, I have the advantage of being more 'with it' in terms of global fashion. I am more open to challenges and to taking risks since there is no 'success formula' I rely on," says the London School of Design graduate (and Hyderabadi) Anand Kabra whose collection in midnight blues, forest greens, russets and golds, that converted lehangas to long skirts and cholis into shrugs or fitted boleros, talk of 'subtle drama'. "I do respect our traditional costume but wouldn't dare pass it off as Indian fashion as I understand the nuances that differentiate the two."

Arjun Saluja's second collection at LFW had the rumblings of bigger things to come. One creative burst came in the way of streamlined and short '80s glam meets Star Wars futuristic dresses, in eye-popping colours. But before you could put your finger to it, he closed his show (and the Lycra-fits) with a Yamamoto-ish wrap that engulfed the body in an amorphous haze of beige. He said that his fashion education, whether it was the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science or his technical courses at Parsons School of Design, helped.

So is there a new aesthetic with these young designers? Clearly they are not very bling; yet they're not quite 'Khadi Bhandar' either.

"Our ideology is to create designs which cross borders and ethnicity and stand the test of time," said Dev r Nil who count Dries Van Norten and Shahab Durazi as amongst their favourite designers. Titled 'Chocolate' they developed a special smocking technique applied in various parts of the garments and even introduced a jersey sari.

It was interesting to note that there was always a little crowd in Rahul & Firdos' stall at the event, (Rahul Mishra was last year's Next Gen debutant) holding court about the new techniques they have developed for their collection, all of which were western silhouettes. "See," they say, with the earnestness of life-long professors, "the Bhagalpur fabric was woven in such a way that the fall of the garment is enhanced by playing around with the use of weight within the fabrics at different areas by use of yarn weight or weave style. It also gives handloom weavers more security as these fabrics cannot be replicated on powerlooms or mills. It also provides handloom weavers a shield to fight against silk which is imported from China.…" And so they go on and on.

What may be lost in translation to some of our fashion journalists who flip faster than Big Macs, is that they are, in fact talking about - apart from the innovations - eco-fashion, the hottest, socio-economically relevant topic in fashiondom. Where are the garments being manufactured, who manufactures them, in what conditions? How are they applied and who protects the innovations? In the same way that you ask the provenance of your art, now it is time to ask the provenance of your clothes.

For Shyamal & Bhumika, their fashionista whilst enjoying the 'charming details' must also enjoy 'the luxurious eco-friendly fabrics'. Our designers through the years have dipped so generously into our Indian reservoir of handicrafts that many would be unrecognisable if the generous helpings of handicraft were taken away from their design. It is in the re-application of these traditional crafts for contemporary designs that the new fashion designers are mainly interested.

"Our innovation is in the use of bandhini which for the first time saw us retaining the natural texture and its stretchability which in turn enables our garments to fit different sizes; or even how we used pleats to get rid of basic construction requirements like darts and side seams," says Firdos, a NIFT graduate currently pursuing Textile Design from NID.