OLD WAR HORSES
A veteran of Indian and international Fashion Weeks, designer Manish Arora, was most recently invited to show his eclectic collection at the very prestigious ‘Fashion In Motion’, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Thus gaining archival notoriety, this veteran of the ramp continues to amaze with each subsequent collection. Arora’s dresses tell a tale of fashion, of bright fluorescent tones, of outstanding prints. His designs are anti-cliché and he has been known to have models strut his stuff in skirts boldly emblazoned with pop art motifs — an Eiffel Tower or a Tower of London. Arora will be displaying his Spring/Summer collection during the Paris Fashion Week, no doubt to continuing acclaim.

Amongst the veterans at Hong Kong Fashion Week and Singapore Fashion Week, Delhi-based designer Rajesh Pratap Singh, uncannily manages to combine the modern with the traditional. His designs that are minimalist and deceptively simple have proved to be inspirational for younger designers. His meticulously constructed garments have often been based on menswear but with a certain feminine refinement. Take for example, an all-white line that combined strong tailoring with feminine accents – making for a delightfully serene collection. Having graduated from NIFT in 1994, the designer continues to dominate fashion weeks, with Paris Fashion Week coming up next.

Of fashion’s design veterans, JJ Valaya would stand out as the most experimental. His shows tend to assail the senses not only through colour and structure but also through innovative concept. A trendsetter in the industry, Valaya had launched his couture label, JJ Valaya, in 1992. Branching subsequently into furnishings, tapestries, accessories and art, Valaya advocates a larger than life, opulent lifestyle and claims that he was definitely royal in a former life! It is enough that he creates not mere garments, but heirlooms that his customers can safely pass down through the generations.

NEW FACES AT FDCI
Designer Ashish Soni has been appointed president of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), succeeding the grand dame of Indian fashion, Ritu Kumar herself. The first Indian designer to be invited to the Olympus Fashion Week in New York, Soni will certainly bring years of experience in the industry coupled with a certain freshness, to his new post. His latest collection could echo his view of the fashion industry: “Forget trends for a moment… it’s the new way to look now with clothes that are fizzing with tomorrow-ness…” It is never too late to look at thing anew. This announcement follows on the earlier one of Sumeet Nair, one of the founding members of the FDCI, being appointed to the post of Executive Director. Canny move this considering that he was originally one of those who drew up the blueprint for the India Fashion Week, launched in 2000.

PRINT BABE
At 5 feet 10 inches, the Mumbai-based model, Tamara Moss, has recently created a flutter with the Taj Spa Calendar 2008 and the much talked about, Kingfisher Calendar. The face that gained popularity through the Lakme TV commercial, Moss is also brand ambassador for clothes brand, Chemistry. This Indo-Dutch beauty who debuted at Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week has been criticised for an ungainly walk on the ramp but print photographers love her attitude and great looks. A self confessed shoe junkie, Moss admits to not being much into designer clothes, preferring to mix and match her outfits with shawls, hats and boots. An individual look is what she brings, inevitably, to whatever she does. Look out for her in the new Kimaya campaign.

AGILE FASHION PROMOTER
Sunil Sethi, CEO, Alliance Merchandising Company Pvt Ltd, who got involved with luxury exports by catering to high-end stores like La Rinascente of Italy, Lords and Taylor in the US and the May Departmental Stores Group, has since represented international companies worldwide. More recently, this high-flier has become involved with lifestyle chains of boutique hotels like the Como Hotels and Resorts and the One & Only Resort chain. Sethi is a known figure at the FDCI-organised Lakme India Fashion Week, where he is a regular panel speaker. The fashion industry has certainly discovered an enterprising enthusiast in Sethi!

FASHION’S FEMME FATALE
She is a bundle of fashion energy as well as a bundle of contradictions. Designer, Malini Ramani, remains a rebel in her personal life as well as her designs. She represents the new, youthful India and appeals to the capital’s IT sensibilities. The ladies-who-lunch-and-party simply love her ‘rockstar meets Indian Princess’ looks. Infinite glamour, plunging necklines, figure-hugging silhouettes are her benchmarks and she carries her own look off to perfection. Certainly fashion’s rock princess!

SEXIEST EXPORT
Dusky model Lakshmi Menon, in Jodhpur chic and surrounded with painted elephants with pink and orange toenails, on a bed of flower petals, is the new face of Hermès. The campaign has been aptly entitled Orange Hermes et Rose Indien. This is especially charming at a time when the strains of Indian style and beauty are resounding worldwide. The Bangalore-born Menon is not ready to sit back and enjoy the international adulation, yet. A veteran of the ramp for Hermès and jean Paul Gaultier, we hope to continue seeing her particular brand of charm at Fashion Weeks in India, as well.

NEW FACE
This year, the Raheja calendar sees the new face of WIFW 2007, our cover girl Lisa Haydon, getting into the skin of Spiderwoman, in a sheer diaphanous gown. The dusky beauty brings a certain energy to her work and manages to pull off a largely cosmopolitan and international look. Having started her career with commercials in Australia, she has certainly brought an edge to her work making it a good thing that she returned to the country of her birth.

UNINHIBITED DIVA
Longtime model and social butterfly Feroze Gujral always could and continues to carry off the most outrè outfit, with elan. She has been known to sit through an early evening Fashion Week show in a fully sequinned sheath of a jumpsuit in brilliant red and not look like a Santa-gone-wrong. Let it be said, in fact, that she was stunning in that particular Malini Ramani creation. A perfect foil for traditional as well as outlandish designers, Gujral manages to carry off plunging necklines and body-hugging outlines to perfection.

EVERGREEN MAKE-UP ARTIST
Who is the favourite of cat walk queens and fashion weeks? Make-up artist, Ambika Pillai or ‘Ambu’, certainly is. At Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, Pillai faultlessly manages upto 30 shows of natural, bizarre or personalised looks. She is the star of shows and shoots, creating looks, effortlessly. Having made inroads into Bollywood with Aishwarya Rai’s curly locks and natural look in Taal, Pillai, who began with haircuts so many years ago, however, declares her passion for fashion over film.

FASHION WEEK JEWELLERY
Trained at The Gemological Institute of America (GIA), jewellery designer Vasundhara Mantri is one of the few jewellers in Kolkata who qualifies to create jewellery with her own hands. Synchronising Indian, European and American ideas, her work marks a fusion of art and craft. Regular wear jewellery, funky pieces, experiments with textured metal, are some of her looks. Her unique designs in turquoise, rose quartz, peridots, citrines, amethysts and lapis lazuli make her a fashion week favourite. Jewelled bags and sandals complete the product line at Vasundhara.

BRAND GODDESS
From the big fat Indian wedding that everyone still talks about, to the international catwalks, Priya Sachdev, wife of hotelier Vikram Chatwal, has always displayed her own brand of chutzpah. She wears international brands like a clotheshorse, and never seems to have an off day. She discovered herself naturally on Verve’s best dressed list and continues to rule the roost there. Being part of the Sachdev Group, which has brought international brands like Moschino, Alberta Ferretti, jean Paul Gaultier and Lanvin can only help that stylish image.

COOL DESIGNERS
The name of the label is cool, too. ‘atpuG varuaG’ by Gaurav Gupta was launched in 2004 and retains its cutting edge quotient. Experimenting with textiles and sculptural draping, Gupta works with ‘ancient cultural influences in his techniques, twisted to a modern product’. Known to play with asymmetry, Gupta cuts an avant-garde picture himself.
The label Fightercock by husband and wife duo, Abhishek Gupta and Nandita Basu has been described as ‘an explosion of energy’ the name in fact capturing the essence of the brand. The duo’s vision of Fightercock is a youth culture brand that forms a meeting point between fashion, music, cinema and contemporary art. For the lighthearted.
Varun Bahl has not always managed to please at Fashion Weeks but has discovered an audience abroad, especially in Japan. He is also launching a collection for Hollywood actress Olivia Hussey to coincide with the release of Hussey’s film, Mother Teresa of Calcutta. His collections may please or not but always attract attention at Fashion Week.

BRAVE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNER
Nitin Bal Chauhan, who turned down a scholarship from the Domus Academy in Milan to disappear into the hills of Himachal for two years, believes that the way we dress ourselves is influenced by tribal fashion. And yet, his designs often seem removed from tribal craft and he claims that his ‘Catholic schooling seems to effect the way I design’. Perhaps these opposing influences have resulted in a brave new design philosophy. Look out for his latest collection inspired by tribal and folk costume and Gothic influences. A lot of colour and hand-crafted fabric.

BOLLYWOOD STYLE DESIGNERS
While the thinking woman’s designer, Narendra Kumar Ahmed, has made recent inroads into Bollywood, fashionista and brand promoter Rita Dhody is all set to give Priyanka Chopra a whole new look in the Madhur Bhandarkar-directed film, Fashion. It’s the style diva’s first film and Dhody will be styling the entire look. Not a bad choice, considering that Dhody is herself muse to many Indian designers.

BOLLYWOOD TRENDSETTER
Asia’s sexiest woman sure knows how to reinvent herself! Bollywood’s gorgeous Bipasha Basu, known for her long and lustrous locks, is experimenting with a whole new look. A pixie hairstyle, no less. The sumptuous actress, a former model who continues to do ramp showstoppers, for designers like Narendra Kumar Ahmed, surely believes that versatility is the mother of great looks!

PRET PROMOTER
For those who have dreamed of wearing ace couturier Tarun Tahiliani but have not had pockets deep enough, there’s reason to be happy. The designer’s ready to wear line hit stores to much fanfare but disappeared from shelves as quickly. A replenishment, please, Mr Tahiliani. We are waiting!

PHOTOGRAPHER WITH AN EDGE
Ashay Kshirsagar contends that his first big campaign, for Kaya Skin Clinic, proved to be the turning point in his career. Several campaigns and much editorial work later, the young photographer has emerged with a style that captures the cutting edge of fashion models. His favourite remains veteran lens pleaser, Sheetal Mallar, and his wish list includes edgy labels, Manish Arora and Dolce & Gabbana. With the amazing attention he pays to detail in his frames, he will get there soon enough, we imagine.