NEW DELHI — It’s a good time to be an Indian fashion designer.
For the first time, several of the country’s leading designers are being showcased at industry events in cities like New York, London and Paris. And plenty of American and European buyers — from Browns to Bloomingdale’s — have been traveling to India for the past few seasons to check out emerging talent on local runways.
At the recent India Fashion Week here, two of the country’s top designers, Manish Arora and Rajesh Pratap Singh, stood out for their creative techniques and innovative designs, which are being picked up by major fashion retailers around the world. Between their two labels, they’re now stocked at more than 100 stores worldwide, including Colette, Saks Fifth Avenue, Harrods, L’Eclaireur and Maria Luisa.
And yet their designs couldn’t be more different. Arora has made his name with women’s wear that combines rich, saturated hues with over-the-top embellishment — a colorful, modern take on traditional India. Singh’s style has a reserved European aesthetic, with precise pintucks, classic shapes and muted tones, seen in his women’s and men’s wear.
“You probably can’t find two more different representations of modern Indian design,” notes Arora, adding that lack of competition may be the reason the two have remained close friends since their student days at the country’s National Institute of Fashion Technology.
Arora’s presentation during India Fashion Week, which he followed up with his third consecutive runway show at London Fashion Week, proved the designer is able to develop his established look even further. While many Indian designers are downplaying traditional ethnic elements in hopes of appealing more to Western markets, Arora has capitalized on his heritage, although he’s taken it one outlandish step further with some of the brightest, boldest clothing available.
“My USP is India,” Arora said. “I’m not trying to do something that is already in the West, and that has helped me get noticed.”
His new spring collection showed an evolution in his design and technique, combining stunning nature scenes, from 3-D birds and fluttering petals on a sleeveless shift to bright lotus blooms edging a lilac baby-doll dress, with a slightly more subtle palette than his previous Day-Glo collections. The result was a unique look, and one that is being stocked in dozens of stores around the world, including Harrods, Villa Moda, Bloomingdale’s and Le Bon Marché.
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It’s also earned Arora the attention of Reebok, which launched his first 12-item collection of footwear last November under the name Fish Fry for Reebok. A second sneaker collection for Reebok will be revealed this fall, followed by a debut collection of Reebok sportswear by the end of the year.
In stark contrast, the reserved Singh has captured attention with an entirely opposite aesthetic. His clothing has revolved around simple palettes — lots of whites with occasional touches of color — and carefully constructed garments with very little ethnic identity. It’s an atypical look among Indian designers and has helped Singh stand out to Western buyers.
“Indian designers are traditionally known as drapers,” he says. “We’ve never been known for our constructed garments.”
That may be changing. Singh’s recent show here, which drew such fashion devotees as Indian socialite Queenie Dhody and Isabella Blow, featured light, textured fabrics, airy shapes and an occasional sparkle of hand-sewn sequins. A highlight was his cutout flower fabrics, which were first pintucked and embroidered before being constructed into easy dresses and jackets with a vintage sensibility.
The enthusiastic response was actually a huge relief for Singh, who admittedly pulled together the collection in just a few weeks time. The designer’s attention lately has been focused on his high-end men’s wear, which launched at Tranoi in Paris last spring and was immediately picked up by stores like L’Eclaireur and Maria Luisa. Singh will take his men’s and women’s lines to Tranoi again this fall.