Monthly Archives: November 2009

Rina Dhaka

The ‘Goddess of Oomph’ of Indian fashion, designer Rina Dhaka…

Poonam Bhagat

It takes a certain kind of woman to wear Taika – A confident…

The Halloween evening

 The spirit of Spectacular Halloween really geared up at Olive, Qutub celebrating the De Dias De Los Muertos (The day of the dead). A special Mexican festival celebrating the dead took on a new character when white walls turn color, sculptures become beheaded mannequins, vases transform into skulls and skeletons. The electrified energy kept pulsating through every track & gyrates to the music of DJ Vickey with some festive Mexican/latin music to start with and later hours danced to commercial house mix.

Spotted at the fun and playful evening were designer Siddharth Tytler, Ravi Bajaj, model Anupama Verma, Arti Singh of Polka art gallery, Chetan Seth, Sanjay and Sheena Sharma, Bharti Bhalla, Witty Bawa, Thenny amongst others.
 
 Thenny enjoying the party said, “From my side, I could say that since the whole city was hosting Halloween party on this day, we wanted to be different and came out with the idea of celebrating day of the death=dia de los muertos, which is a Mexican festival to celebrate those who have left this world and come back once a year to visit their loved ones. This is a happy day, not a sad day, people drinks, party whether is at their home or on the cemetery”

Rina Dhaka

The ‘Goddess of Oomph’ of Indian fashion, designer Rina Dhaka styles clothes with a lot of fun and frolic. Rina Dhaka has been a dreamer ever since her childhood. For her, visuals are always more important than words. After completing her graduation, she did a training project with Intercraft and also trained under Evan Grandhal. The look of her collection is always sophisticated but experimental, well researched, with her signature style. When you greet her while she is in the middle of trying her hand at draping all you get is a brusque, "Hello", chased by the admission, "I don’t know how I did it, man!".

According to her, unlike prêt, couture gives you the liberty to experiment without getting bogged down by the rules of continuity. She proudly confesses to the feeling like a jittery debutant all over again before every show and believes that the feeling is what gives the needed impetus to her to give her best.

She is best known for her theme collections – sheer trousers, crochet, stretch jersey, woolens and spider web motifs. Western wear still remains an area of dominance, though she also designs ethnic and conventional attires. Rina’s clothes have juggled the impossible task of being traditional while harbouring contemporary attitude.

  • Has won the best designer award in Miami Fashion Week 2004.

  • Was declared the best collection at the India Fashion Week for Milan. The jury included Michael Fink of Saks/ Albert Morris of Browns/ Fern Mallis of IMG.

  • She was the best seller at the Bollywood promotion at Selfridges, Galeries Lafayette Paris, Lord’s Taylor New York, Jaeger at Harvey Nichols, Tashi, London, Gloria Gratacos Spain.

  • BBC referred to her as the ‘Gaultier of the East’.

  • Represented Trinidad/Tobago to create the procession for the 75 years of Queens Commonwealth Parade in United Kingdom at the Buckingham Place.

  • Currently she is the founder board member of FDCI, Board member on the Crafts Council of India and The Idea’s Committee chaired by Mr. Anand Mahindra.

  • Her work has been featured in publications such as Marie Claire Paris, Madame Figaro Paris, Vogue London, New York Post, Vanity Fair receiving wide accolades.

Her clients include Naomi Campbell, Martha Marzotto, Uma Thurman, Tara Palmer Tomlinson, Vittorio Radice, to name a few.

She currently retails at Anthropology (USA) who stock her creations in their 175 stores, Indomix (USA), Lodenfrey (Munich), Fine Rhine (Hong Kong), Sanskriti (Hong Kong), Selfridges (London), Coin (Italy), Lord and Taylor (New York), Carma (Delhi), Design Studio (Mumbai), Kimaya (Mumbai),  and in over 20 boutiques within India and the rest of the world. She has two exclusive retail outlets in New Delhi.

You can get Rina at:

Address:

75, New Mangla Puri

MG Road, Gurgaon, Haryana

Poonam Bhagat

It takes a certain kind of woman to wear Taika – A confident, self-assured and elegant woman who has a mind of her own and a personality that does not get drowned by her attire. No doubt, the name behind the label, Poonam Bhagat boasts of an incredibly dedicated clientele who refuse to wear anything that is not Taika. Her clothes are greatly appreciated by both critics and consumers.

Poonam, a major in Psychology, started her fashion career in 1991 following an exhibition of her clothes. A series of successful exhibitions soon translated into the birth of Taika. Today, it is among some of the most well-known labels in India, carrying clothes that are western, wholly Indian, and sometimes a medley of both. The look is that of understated elegance. Ensembles that do not cry out loud but softly, yet surely make their presence felt. ‘Taika’ in Finnish means Magic. And that is exactly the image the clothes create. Romantic, mystical, and at the same time powerful, her clothes have a dreamlike essence. Her design philosophy of understated chic is reflected in both cut and use of fabrics.

 Poonam’s work fits perfectly alongside the eco-friendly clothing that is dominant in the fashion industry at the moment. But Poonam was working with eco-friendly fabrics long before it became a global trend, right from the beginning of her fashion career.  She refuses to use synthetics, focusing on natural pure fabrics. Cottons, voiles, chanderis, crepes, tussars and khadi silks are her favourites. Exclusively meant for women, the label offers a wide range of choice from the traditional chic to the formals, semi formals and casuals.

Empire line dresses, sheath dresses, tunics with wide band collars, kaftan dresses and jackets in eggplant, burgundy and black handwoven tussar silks vie with each other for attention.

A range of jackets in contrasting vibrant silks, quilted and appliquéd, titillate and tease along side the more conservative and classic Churidar-kurtas and the quintessential Indian ensemble , the Sari.

TAIKA sells across the country from upmarket designer boutiques like EVOLUZIONE – Chennai and Bangalore , FFOLIO – Bangalore , AZA – Mumbai and Delhi , AMARA – Mumbai , ELAHE , ALSO and MAIAH – Hyderabad , 85 LANSDOWNE , KALI , ZENON & PRANA – Kolkatta , HOT PINK – Jaipur , ELAN – Ahmedabad to name a few. Their western ensembles have also retailed from select stores internationally – New York (IBIZA), Florida-West Palm Beach (OKRA) , London (RCKC ) and Tokyo (TARA BLANCA ).

 

Jenjum and Jasleen

A collaboration of two Wigan & Leigh graduates, Jenjum Gadi and Jasleen Kochhar, Koga designs calls its conceptual innovation its USP. The brand boasts of cutting edge texturing, interesting embroidery and a beautiful amalgamation of various stitching techniques. 

Both the young designers gave wings to their dreams at the Wigan & Leigh College. Jenjum won the prestigious “best collection” award at his college finale. He then went on to work with eminent designers like Satya Paul and Rohit Bal and honed his skills under their guidance. Gadi is very versed in the art of fashion and has the unique ability to rework and recreate the existing into something that stands apart and is extraordinary. On the other hand, Jasleen was awarded with the “best performer” overall award at the finale. Kochhar gave up many high-paying corporate jobs for her love of designing. She holds a degree in business from the Warwick Business School and has worked as an intern at the ‘Valaya FNP’.

In less than three years of its existence, Koga has emerged as a favored brand among fashion aficionados and has built up its own loyal customer base. The pair has presented their designs at four fashion weeks in these years and has won accolades from the critics. Jenjum and Jasleen also hold the distinction of being featured in Elle magazine as one of the top ten upcoming designers. The duo won the award for the best ‘Anti-Pollution’ garment at the Lakme Fashion Week in 2008.

Koga retails from premier international outlets like ‘Rocco’ in Bahrain, ‘Mumbai Se’ in Dubai and ‘Sarraf in Riyadh. In India, their creations retail at ‘Fuel’ in Bombay, ‘Archian’ in Hyderabad, ‘Deval’ in Ahmedabad and ‘Soh-Koh’ in Chandigarh.
 

Didier Grumbach

An exclusive FASHIONFAD.in tete-a-tete with Didier Grumbach – president of the Fédération Française de la Couture, du Prêt à Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode (aka the Chambre Syndicale) the most important organisation in the French fashion industry. Grumbach last attended the WIFW in 2007 and has returned to WIFW ss’10 after almost two years. De facto (in fact) Grumbach was the one who took Manish Arora, Rajesh Pratap Singh and Anamika Khanna to the Paris Fashion Week. When the Pope of the fashion industry himself comes down to India attending our fashion event it definitely sets the buzz around. So we go ahead to ask the authority himself about our fashion challenges-
 
What do you think of the Indian fashion?
The fashion in India is very interesting and has a very promising future. It has great potential to become a part of the global fashion. But frankly there is nothing that can be termed as Indian fashion or Japanese fashion or French, anything that looks Chinese or Japanese or French cannot be called fashion, it has to be global. And Fashion market at present in India is very good it is not necessary always to sell abroad to be successful. You take your design to places only when you are an artist and you want people to see your work of art. But as a designer it is not necessary to go places in order to sell your collection. This is what fashion in France is all about; there if a designer is selling very well he/she doesn’t export.
 
What is the kind of competition that exists between luxury and prêt lines?
The difficulty arises from the fact that India has very product oriented pieces that are saleable. And there are designs which are only for the ramp. The lack of proper understanding of which ensemble would fall under what category in the international fashion scenario adds up to the woes of the Indian designers. In crisp words there is no clear demarcation between the luxury, prêt and the couture lines. (Mockingly comments) a collection which the press likes is not commercial and something that is commercial is not liked by the press.
 
Why International designers are not coming to India?
The duties for India are very high and it is very difficult and expensive to rent new stores. It is practically impossible for designers to export to India unless it is a Gucci or Prada. If a French designer comes to India there is no one to buy his designs. Things might change in future but the present Indian market does not have any business for International designers.
 
The international buyers already come to Paris so designers don’t need to travel. And the Indian distribution is not that strong enough so it sometimes becomes necessary for the Indian designers to travel abroad.
 
The network system India is not at a very advanced stage — Japan had a similar experience. Japan didn’t have its first international label, Issey Miyake, until quite a long time after it entered the international market. Issey Miyake had access to European and American markets in 1973, by then it was already a 20-year-old label. And designers like Yoji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake who brought Japanese fashion in the global scenario do not showcase in Japan but in France.
 
How would Indian fashion benefit from your association?
(A very important question remarks Didier Grumbach)
First I would like to comment on how I gain from this association. I am looking towards a tie up with countries like India, China Brazil as soon there would be no more boundaries in fashion. And selling and producing worldwide is now a necessity.
 
And for the Indian port I bring awareness of the global fashion. Seeing from here Paris is completely impossible to foresee. The association proposes to educate and help Indian designers categorize their collection according to prêt-a-porter, haute couture and other different lines. As it is very difficult for the designers here to get it to know what is the demand of the market globally and how each category of clothing is different from the other line. I don’t propose for the Indian designers to put up a show in Paris immediately. The show is only necessary after the designer has an established client base like Manish Arora.

I come to India because I feel in one world fashion keeps us together and it comes even before the politics of countries.