Wendell Rodricks, the doyen, and Ramona Narang Rodella, the debutante, make an unlikely but interesting twosome. He, the pioneer of Resortwear in India, bringing his wonderful Goan languor to lithe creations that transform lissom women into sun-and-surf pixies. She, the newly-minted Yummy Mummy, trying her hand for the very first time to give spa-spoilt beach belles some extra oomph with her racy resort line.
They were both part of the same in-store promotion on an unusually hot December afternoon in South Mumbai - the heat largely generated by the weather! He walked in apologetically, a little late, she really much later. But then, she had loads of rollers wound tightly into her bright blonde hair, and these things take time. After they'd finished giggling and posing for pictures, he as much as she, a chat ensued.
Ramona, with husband number three, Bruno, almost always in tow, is the quintessential high-society swan gliding on gilded waters. Her well-chronicled saga is larger than life - almost as large as her diamonds! But she's now mum to ten-month-old twins, Ishaan and Isabella, and there has been a shift towards seeking something more than the kick of being a girl-about-town.
"I was pregnant and suddenly found I had nothing to wear," she pouts, in recollection of her Eureka moment, realising that if she wanted to kit herself out in hip pregnancy couture, she would have to fashion it herself.
"When I went around Mumbai I'd see fuddy-duddy 'pregnancy' clothes and I wanted to look sexy and pretty," she purrs. "So I caught hold of a tailor and did my own thing. It worked! People started loving my clothes. Then, after my delivery, as I sat at home struggling to lose weight for months, I bought fabric and started designing. And here we are." She waves a hand, weighed down by a very serious solitaire, gesticulating to her line hanging in a store fast filling in with Ladies-Who-Launch. Amongst the A-List, the lovely ladies no longer just lunch. They all launch something or the other constantly, keeping them rather busy amongst themselves attending events centred around each others' collections.
Today is Ramona's turn. Her collection, called Ibella (I Bella is I'm Beautiful in Italian and inspired by her daughter Isabella), has lots of embellished cocktail dresses. Ramona reckons, "Even when you're on the beach, you still want to look glam for dinner. My dresses are very lounge - you can wear them plain or accessorise them."
She defines the woman she is notionally designing for: "She must, ideally, be the sort who wants to look good all the time, is indulgent and very secure." Perhaps, that defines Ramona herself! Right now, though, she insists it's mainly motherhood on her mind. "I've been waiting for this all my life. God makes you go through what you need to so that you can appreciate what you get at the end of the road. I've made my mistakes and risen above them," she concedes.
As the debutante diva basks in the attention of her designer collection, the celebrated doyen, Wendell, wallows in his share of the spotlight too. Women are just snapping his line off the racks. "I didn't plan to put either Resortwear or minimalism on the Indian fashion map. It just happened," he reasons. His basic philosophy is giving clients the luxury of experiencing Goa when they wear his garments.
He recalls his stint at YSL in Paris, when a senior mentor told him: "I don't see your country in your clothes. With Japanese, American or Italian designers, you see their country in their clothes." Wendell says, "That made me think. I decided not just my country but my state, Goa, would be reflected in my clothes. So I embarked upon the creative expedition of translating the airiness of the sea breeze, the sensuousness of the sand, the fluidity of the ocean into my garments."
Tina Tahiliani, who's overseeing the promo, pitches in, "No matter how many new designers come into Ensemble, Wendell is a veteran who brings so much more than just great garments to the store. He brings a philosophy." And for Ramona, Tina quips, "As first-timers go, she is fun, fresh and daring!"

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