Picture Audrey Hepburn’s Eliza Dolittle at Ascot in her white lace gown, dramatically trimmed with ruffles and ribbons. Or Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett O Hara in her famous green barbeque party dress. Or even Cinderella in flounces of sumptuous silk at Prince Charming’s ball. Now imagine these gorgeous ladies reborn in modern day India, their love for form-flattering couture intact. A chic soirée in Mumbai or Delhi would probably see them turning heads in Gauri and Nainika ensembles. Much like their real-life counterparts who are eagerly reaching for the irresistibly feminine dresses designed to rake in the compliments.

The NIFT graduates who launched their label, Magnetic Rag, in 2002, started out with a bold premise. At a time when most designers were focussing on clothes with an Indo-western feel and everything was embroidered, the Karan sisters set out to make purely western clothes—glamorous and feminine, yet clean and understated. They’ve stuck to that philosophy. Till date they don’t work with embellishments or embroideries. “There’s nothing Indian about our clothes. It’s a very international looking brand. We’ve been inspired by old-world Hollywood. As little girls, we’d watch My Fair Lady everyday. Actresses of yore, from Audrey Hepburn to Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor, had an amazing aura of high glamour that’s missing today. Gauri and I are constantly trying to revive that look,” says Nainika.

Christian Dior’s über glam New Look of the late 1940s, with its strapless boned tops and full skirts has been their biggest influence. “The New Look was the return of femininity when Dior went all out and literally dressed women like dolls. Contemporary designers like Oscar de la Renta, whom we admire, are also inspired by this moment in fashion history. We also like Balanciaga and Galliano,” Gauri says. Closer home, their mother Pratibha Karan’s strikingly elegant style has been an unceasing source of inspiration. “Despite having three kids, mom had the most amazing figure. She was slender-shouldered, delicate and wore full-on red lipstick. To us, she was the most beautiful woman in the world,” gushes Nainika.

The designers feel their single biggest achievement has been to bring about a change in the attitude of the wearer. “It takes courage to make something people don’t wear and make them realise that they can wear it. That’s when you’re truly doing something different. People in India like to dress when they go out. It was just a question of opening their minds to wearing a long dress. Indian women are not shy of bling. A gown will only look sober in comparison to all those big diamonds,” quips Nainika. The sisters wear the kind of clothes they design. “When people see them on us, they realize they don’t need to dress up in crazy amounts of diamonds or embroidery to stand out. Our clothes bring out the lady in anyone. Girls just love that!”

Ahead of their time, the designers intuitively sensed a need for western formal wear and high-end semi-couture in the Indian market. Chic soirées, sangeets, weddings, dinners, special dates, even proms—contemporary India doesn’t lack in occasions that call for dressy clothes. “Today every girl who’s getting married has a party for youngsters, where she wants to stand out and look like a princess. Even the bride’s best friend wants to wear something longer because it looks more dramatic. It needn’t be a full-length dress; it could just be a lot of volume or a great colour. Brands like Mango and Zara are available today, but they are more casual, more high-street. Their clothes are not exclusive or formal enough. Our clothes are very dressy.” Sensible pricing, timeless, non-trendy styles that won't go out of fashion and an uncompromising eye for quality have all contributed to the label’s success.

Timeless glamour runs like a leitmotif through all their creations. But the versatile duo has innovated with every collection since their debut at India Fashion Week in 2004. The red-carpet look was inspired by a strong accent on volume, texture and deep colours. The resort collection with its beautiful polka-dotted dresses, scarves and sunglasses recreated a St. Tropez freshness. Quilted silk gowns in rich hues with a hint of lace were equally memorable. Their Spring/Summer 2007 collection in blush pink, canary yellow and white was inspired by the Cubist movement. It stood out with its boldly innovative prints inspired by Wassily Kandinsky. The look was contemporary modern, but the silhouettes were glamorous, including empire-cut dresses, pencil dresses, hound-tooth wrap dresses and trapeze dresses. The use of white base with blocks of yellow, cobalt blue and black recalled the artist Piet Mondrian.

The popularity of Gauri and Nainika’s womanly and sophisticated designs, along with those of Surily Goel, Nimita Rathod and Ruchi Mehta signals a resurgence of femininity in Indian fashion after the clean minimalism of the ’90s. The brand also exemplifies a new confidence in Indian designers to step out of their comfort zone of doing what they’ve always done best—Indian embroideries and largely ethnic attire consisting of salwar kurtas, saris, ghagras—and working with purely western ideas and silhouettes.

The lavish couture feel of their clothes has already made them the natural choice for the Bollywood glam list. From Priyanka Chopra wearing their dress to the recent Tag Heuer polo match in Delhi to Katrina Kaif ordering 20 of their outfits for a movie, the designers are making quite a buzz. “Indian actresses have traditionally worn saris for premieres. Now with many of them going for international film festivals like IIFA and premiers of Hindi films abroad, they are looking for more variety in clothes. Many of them have started approaching us because we do this very glamorous look. Wearing international labels like Armani or Dior at high-profile venues like Cannes is all very well. But it’s so much easier to wear something from an Indian designer who is accessible to you, understands Indian bodies better, and can customise clothes to suit your preference. It’s much more personal, ” reasons Gauri.

The designers emphasise that the Bollywood connection has happened naturally, not by design. Not that they’re complaining. “Bipasha Basu and Pooja Bedi carry off our clothes brilliantly. Lara Datta wears our outfits. Even Aishwarya Rai, who has been criticised for her style, has picked up beautiful stuff from us. She wore a white dress with black ruffles of ours to the Derby, which everyone loved,” Nainika enthuses. They like Preity Zinta’s dress sense. Among the new lot, they vouch for Sonam Kapoor’s style. “She is young, willing to experiment and loves feeling like a girl. Both she and Deepika Padukone had films releasing at the same time and were calling us for evening wear,” Gauri adds.

Dressy formals are their forte but the duo eventually plans to extend their design skills to casuals. “We want to be a brand that offers everything a woman wants. In the near future, we want to have an international presence at retail stores like Neiman Marcus, Saks, Bergdorf, and as well as boutiques in LA, New York, Paris and Milan. I think that market will understand our clothes a lot better.” The fashionistas are open to designing for a Bollywood film, but are loath to the idea of being costume designers. “I’m not interested in styling or making clothes for an actress in a film which requires a look that’s just not us,” Nainika stresses.

Firm believers of team work, the two sisters bring complementary skills to the table. Nainika, 28, and younger than Gauri by a year, excels at fabric construction while Gauri is the planner, doing concepts for shows and making future strategies for the brand. “We think the same thing at the same time—it’s really uncanny. I keep saying we are one person. Somewhere our brains are connected; there’s always this crazy mental telepathy happening,” laughs Gauri.

The telepathy also taps into the minds of scores of modern Indian woman longing for a dash of old-fashioned romance and drama in their lives. Knights in shining armor, Prince Charmings and Rhett Butlers may be not quite around the corner. Happily, looking and feeling like a princess is only a Gauri and Nainika gown away.