Wills Lifestyle announced the fifth edition of ‘The Debut’, a first of its kind initiative for recognizing India’s promising young talent in fashion arena. The first regional round kicked off at the Wills Lifestyle store in Phoneix Mills. The contest like previous four seasons will provide an opportunity to showcase, reward and recognize the aspiring young designers of the country.
This year the contest received an overwhelming response through more than 300 entries from all over India, including students from country’s prestigious fashion institutes like all centers of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), National Institute of Design (NID) and Pearl Academy of Fashion. Out of 200 portfolios received, a separate jury further short listed the entries to 45 potential candidates, who will be presenting their creations in front of an eminent jury at the regional rounds to be held in Bangalore (March 03) and Kolkata (March 08) besides Mumbai.
The five winners from Mumbai round to go into the finals are Nipun Dhingra, Arti Jaggi, Mukta Barva, Harshita Bhardwaj and Madhurima Sengupta. The candidates were judged by the celebrated fashion designers Krishna Mehta, Priyadarshini Rao, Monica Aggarwal of NIFT.
Mr. Atul Chand, Divisional Chief Executive, ITC’s Lifestyle Retailing Business Division said, “The Debut by Wills Lifestyle is a unique platform that nurtures and recognizes young talent in the field of fashion design. This initiative provides encouragement to budding creative talent and facilitates interface with the leading names of the Indian Fashion fraternity. We are delighted at the overwhelming response received and we are sure the initiative will go from strength to strength in the years to come”.
Neeru Kumar will be opening the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) Autumn/Winter 2011 on April 6th at 2 pm in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. She has been a fellow member with FDCI for nearly a decade and this is her first fashion week.
Sunil Sethi, President, FDCI said, “I would like to congratulate Neeru Kumar for opening the show. She will be showcasing her collection at a fashion week for the first time, and we are indeed very proud to have her on board at WIFW”.
Neeru Kumar, a 1980 graduate of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Her first commercial breakthrough was in 1989, with her signature ‘First Design’, a black and tussar weave, which was acclaimed internationally. Neeru’s work is described as the collectable antiques of the future. And her experiments with traditional textile processes, whether in Kantha, khadi, jamdani, ikat or jacquard and treadle weaving demonstrates the critical importance which brings the technique itself in new life and energy.
With luscious colours and luxurious textures, Jatin Varma’s latest collection of evening and resort wear plans to be more than the flavour of the season. Aptly titled “Gelato” Jatin Varma’s Summer/Resort 2011 line will be unveiled at Lakme Fashion Week, at his runway show held on March 12th.
This stand-out collection is inspired by the famous Italian Gelato, its exclusive flavours, light texture and vibrant sorbet shades. Gelato’s fresh and rich colours are a visual delight featuring melon pink, black current shaded blue, lemon white and a juicy apricot yellow. Jatin Varma has chosen rich silk organza and silk taffeta fabrics to play with structure and various forms of draping.
Light and summery, the drapes and layers are combined with fitted and full circle skirts, adding subtle playfulness to these flirty, feminine pieces. The blend of colour blocking a pleating has resulted in fusing gracefulness and style with spunk and creativity, in a collection of short edgy dresses and red carpet evening gowns.