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.

What increasingly is becoming the crux of their design rationale, is the playful inversion of everything Indian, to showcase what a lot of them, a little prematurely, call 'world fashion'. Injapink's Vineet Bahl (graduate of fashion design from Nottingham Trent University, UK) worked for Tarun Tahiliani for two and a half years in his womenswear collection and was instrumental in helping Tahiliani introduce the menswear collection. Preferring the anonymity of Mumbai ("This city allows me to do my own thing"), at closer inspection he had a few tricks up his sleeve. He used mill-made pin checks, fused colourful georgette strips and lightly embroidered temple motifs along the strips to create a look that was intrinsically Mexican. He oxidised diamond embroidery in acid and used this as raw net inserts to give his designs a languid 1930s feel or simply embroidered delicate baroque motifs and then cut them out casually like paper and hand appliquéd them onto the garments. "As a young designer I see things differently. My clothes are more wearable and my idea of beauty is not transfixed on traditional zardozi embroidery," says Bahl.

Chennai-based designer Chaitanya Rao whose butterfly leitmotif appeared in all his designs as gentle appliqués or hand embroidery in very wearable skirts and blouses believes his "design sensibility is less ostentatious with focus being more on subtle detailing".

Or maybe it's not just bling. "As far as the silhouettes go, I am more convinced with what might be called a 'de-tour' from the exact set guidelines rather than be one of the scores of designers doing the same balloon skirts and drindle dresses with a change in embellishments," says Nida Mahmood, holding her own with wrapped cropped saris over jeans, canvas with silk gauze or her inspiration, Mata Hari, doing a grunge. "It's all about blending disharmonious elements," says Mahmood.

Rahul & Firdos elaborate further: "If embellishment does not serve a purpose on our garment, it does not form a part of our garment either. We, as designers, rationalise every element considering the usability aspect of it in our design. Even mirror work used on Kutchi and Rajasthani garments serves a purpose. In the vast expanses of desert land, people need to wear mirrors to reflect sunlight so they can be seen from a long distance. Otherwise, they stand the risk of being lost in the desert. Likewise, mirror weight prevents the garment from flying off the body, during desert storms, thus protecting the body from sand and wind!"

On the other hand, Swapnil S inspired by the film Omkara, couldn't do without it. "If my collection didn't demand the bling, I wouldn't have it; but in this case it did. I wanted to work with it because the character of 'Billo' was full on glamour and nautanki!"

Anyone who is intrinsically involved in fashion will be able to tell you that as the world of fashion becomes more corporatised, the more the consumers need an emotional differentiator from one label to another. What this means is that even with the materialistic act of purchasing, we want a unique touch-and-feel experience. We want to believe that there are little nuances in design and ornamentation that we will discover for ourselves, as if the designer meant it just for you, however functional, to discover it like a little secret. One bandhini dress by Rahul & Firdos with hundreds of little knots takes almost four months to make. Yet this texturing, which is labour intensive (as opposed to say, sprinkling it with sequins) or their weaving and pleating are far more important to them. Only the wearer will understand the joy. On the other hand, they say, "If we had used beadwork on our bandhini, the garments would have unnecessarily increased in weight, making them unsuitable for travelling and difficult to maintain."

Dev r Nil who worked in tandem with the weavers of Phulia (Bengal) for their collection explain, "The look-at-me attitude around the world has become passé; the world in general has become a more poignant and thoughtful place. People are appreciating the fine nuances of life. Thus, in this day and age, to follow just the bling-bling route would be alienating."

Showcasing a collection in tobacco, khadi browns and amber greens, Shyamal & Bhumika said, "Subtlety definitely works for us. Drama is just not us." This subtlety has a lot to do with these young designers' idea of ethnicity. While inherently proud of their roots, their perspective is not about peddling 'Indianess' the easy way - by working with obvious motifs and influences.

Deepti Toor whose matka cottons and Mughal miniatures came together to make designs that 'were not pretentious' puts it quite succinctly, "My idea of ethnicity is mine alone. There is no comparison and should not be. I feel the upcoming designers are innovative not only in garment styles but also fresh with ideas and in presentation. And why wouldn't they be? They haven't learnt the business selling lehengas. They have and are still studying the international and local markets."

Says Bahl, "I love the business acumen of the American designers; love the British for their quirks and the way they construct the garment; love the Parisian designers for their sense of style and love the Italian designers for their flamboyance and play of colour." And, keeping their eyes wide open to the world around them, is allowing them to define their own idea of Indianness.

Dr Darlie O Koshy, head of the National Institute of Design, (sitting in the front row and cheering his students) would have been a proud man if he had heard Ajeet Mishra of Maniq wax eloquent about 'form follows function', a tenet almost sacrosanct at NID. When asked about new silhouettes, he will tell you quite candidly: "Nothing is new, we have seen it all, but (what was on my ramp collection) is my way at looking at art and clothes. It's the Modernists' way of looking at art. Making a digital print of any famous painting on cloth and creating a garment out of it, is old school and is out. The important thing is to understand what we are doing before we assimilate and integrate things into our design. It's a learning process."

These kids are smart. They won't jump the gun. They won't oversell, they control their media exposure and they measure their words. Product comes before positioning and they are willing to wait and learn. "When your scales are smaller, one is not very market-oriented. That's when one sees a lot of experimentation and innovation in the collection," says Shyamal & Bhumika who mixed fabrics like crepes and chiffons with Indian hand woven silks to give a beautiful effect. "As far as PR goes, it's best to be discovered for your work rather than blowing your own trumpet."

In terms of design they are not grown up yet and they know it. But they have an unbeatable purposefulness, like the front-benchers in class always raising their hands with the correct answers. Sure, the 'wow' factor may have been a bit tepid, but a couple of seasons more and theirs could be the collective energy that catapults Indian fashion onto another level.