There exists only one world of fashion, where styles inspire styles and designs inspire designs for the designer duo Niket and Jainee. They strived for a fashion statement that brought a French evening gown and an Indian tribal headdress on the same platform thus was born their label which falls in the genre of Fusion wear. Niket did his fashion designing from JD institute where he met Jainee, a master degree holder in cad system in GMT and high fashion garment from NIFT. Then they moved forward to pursue development programme on high fashion garment from SISI, New Delhi. Their signature style speaks volumes on ornamentation with beads and weaving look embroidery adorning feminine, figure hugging cuts. The magic that their designs cast lies in blending together things which, have nothing in common stitched in straight lines, fluid cuts and vibrant shades that have an innovative and abstract style of minimalism.

• They received The New Upcoming Designer Award, 1994 based on the theme ‘War With Style’
• The Designer Of The Year Award In 1995 At JD Institute
• Designed costumes for Auto Expo 2002 for Bajaj, Hero Honda, Apollo Tyres and Suzuki
• A solo Fashion Show for Spring Summer Collection at Bulgarian Embassy, associated with ‘Khushi’, An NGO by Kapil Dev
• Australian Embassy "Wool 2007" show
• Miss Delhi, 2007 as an Official Designer
• NAMASTE INDIA show in Japan
• Debut at WIFW in 2009

Neha Poddar had her artistic instincts ingrained right from the days of babyhood. So after growing up, she joined NIFT to pursue a career in Fashion. During her graduating project at Shahi Exports, she designed her first ever Home-linen collection which was hugely applauded. This turned out to be a Eureka moment as Neha launched the label Nehaz, a home-linen label which is a bit rare in our market. Post the success of Nehaz, she introduced her clothing line Naksh with a promising debut at Bangalore Fashion Week, 2010.

• She graduated as a textile designer from NIFT in 2007.

• She comes from the city of Kolkata.

• She is associated with Hope Foundation, an Ngo dedicated to children.

Recounting about her debut collection at BFW, she says, “The theme behind the collection was ‘the warrior princess‘. It had couture spirit with elements of innovative detailing — reflected in the spirit of youth that the superb texturing and silhouettes radiate. The results were dazzling examples of attitudes that represent the contemporary women — modern, chic and sexy.”

Neha finds her muse in nature and traditional art forms. Further, she is stirred by designer Ritu Kumar who according to her has the best of Indian textiles, absolutely powerful resources and produces true Indian pieces. Infact, she would love to design for Ritu Kumar, if given an opportunity. In addition to it, she feels inspired by fashion designer Rimzim Dadu too.

But an inspiration can do no wonder sans an original idea. And it’s not always you have an idea. What does she do then? “Travelling is the key for me. There are times when design blocks are there; whenever these blocks come I plan a trip. As I said earlier that nature and various art forms inspires me a lot. While I am travelling I get to see nature and various art forms available and the design blockage is gone for me. I love to travel and have been to many parts of India and world which are known for its natural beauty or traditional art forms.” says the designer.

Everybody isn’t ambitious all the time. Some tend to feel satisfied at some point. The same was happening with Neha. She says, “I was always happy doing my home-linen. But it was my mother who always wanted to see me on ramp making designer walk at the end of show and she sitting in front row clapping for me. It’s only for her dream and support that I have come this far.”

In the future, she desires to design a fashion that’s both classic and affordable to the point where masses can avail it. To please her environment concerned side, Neha plans to switch to organic fabrics in future. Well, that’s really applauding.

You can get Neha Podder  at:

Neha Poddar

100A, Kankulia Road, Near Anjali jewellers,

Golpark, Kolkata – 700029

Brought up in Mumbai, with an MBA in Finance, she always had love for art and design and started designing at very young age, which eventually turned out to become a brand name at many fashion weeks.

Without any formal training but with strong encouragement and family support, she opened her first boutique ‘Aakrutee’s’, named after her daughter in Bangalore. Her label ‘Lakshmi Jagmohan’ draws inspiration from nature and her creations features Zardozi embroidery, crystals, semi-precious stones, sequins and Aari work. She incorporates elegant cuts, traditional, contemporary styles that have become the hallmark of her colourful Indian, Western and Indo-western ensembles.

She won the prestigious country award at Brother Cup – International Young Fashion Designers Contest held at Beijing, China and has showcased her collection at Chennai International Fashion Week and Bangalore Fashion Week among others.

She retails through her boutique Aakrutee’s at Sarjapur Road, Bangalore.

You can get ‘Lakshmi Jagmohan’ at:-

www.aakrutees.com

He is power packed with terrific energy. He has planned to go places. He has a desire to be the change and acquire a place in the sun. He exemplifies Indian youth truly. Kunal Chatterjee, egghead behind the newborn label KC says, “The story has just begun. It has been only few months I launched my label, which is designed ‘by’ a crazy fellow and ‘for’ the crazy fellows.” Sounds interesting…in fact more than that.

From the days of childhood, he has been in love with colours, art, music, watching side line movies and travelling to unknown places all alone. These are the ingredients of his delectable recipe of fashion. In addition to it, it’s National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi that taught him garnish it best. Catechize him for his real muse and he says, “Colours, music, graphics, geometrical shapes, abstracts, lights, from a crayon to a skyline; everything is my inspiration. And if you ask what inspires me most then it has to be the craziness within me to do something out of the box.”

His label focuses on offering something that‘s wearable and smart. It is for all those who possess a devil-may-care attitude. His first collection had 15 psychedelic t-shirt designs which was all about colours, graphics madness and wild imagination. Recently, he made his presence at Bangalore Fashion Week with a collection called Street.

Kunal has designed only two collections till date but he talks volume. Consider this, “I have to bring revolution among youngsters in India. Almost every designer is doing commercial stuff for the sake of making money which I will never do. My work is to develop new techniques, to bring the best.” Adding further, he says “When I look at the European fashion week reviews, I feel bad thinking why designers in India are scared to do experiments. My dream is to make the youngsters dress like the ones in Milan, Paris and New York. For that, I will not compromise with my work ever. Money comes second for me. I have to satisfy my designing skills first.”

He might be newbie but he makes you wonder by relating his more than serious contemplations. He feels that people need to be educated enough to decide what to wear and what not. “Stop killing animals and stop extracting something out of them to be glamorous. There is enough of other raw material in the country.” says Kunal. He wants his designs to be simple because all that matters is creativity which has a great scope with eco friendly fabrics.

Being synonymous with high end fashion globally and locally Babita Malkani has made her mark in the fashion industry. Hailing from a family that was successfully involved in the fashion business cast early influences on the young designer, and helped her evolve a high level of comfort with international fabrics and styles that she was exposed to.

Her distinctively urban chic collections and creative sense of style has prompted celebrities, personalities and are regularly seen on Indian television and Bollywood

• At a rented garage in Santa Cruz – Mumbai, way back in 1988, she set up her first business under the label “Whispers”

• Babita launched her new label Babita M, in 2006

• Showcased at The Dubai Fashion Week 2009

• Showcases at the Lakme Fashion Week in India

Her launch label Whispers grew manifold times and going forward she set up her office on Broadway in NYC,

Excellence being her attitude and designs being her forte Babita has evolved as a designer with dignity and fortitude over the years. And Babita M is now a well established label based of India. She has always more inclined towards high fashion and haute couture, and yearning to bring back home her international exposure.On a global level Babita was the designer chosen to exclusively design jackets for the winning team for the ICC champion’s trophy 2009 in South Africa. Babita M is now a well-established label based out of India that currently retails out of the cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Dubai, London, New York, Atlanta and Johannesburg.

Her celebrity client list includes names like farah Khan, Amrita Rao, Achla Sachdev, Diana Hayden, Tabu, Geeta Basra, Isha Kopikar an dSonal Chauhan to name a few.

You can get Babita Malkani at:

www.babitamalkani.in