One day she showed her designs to some weavers, who agreed to transform them from graphs to beautiful fabrics. Now she supports over 50 weavers in west Bengal and Andhra Pradesh who are working for her. Anuradha Ramam works with the weavers beginning from the yarn stage, to deciding the cotton count, selecting the colour and then finalizes the design. The most astounding fact is that everything is hand-woven, so the colours and weave varies with every batch making each and every end product unique and exclusive. 

The collection is a combination of weaves, prints and embroideries fused together with colour. They are inspired by ‘gay abandon’; letting yourself go. Anuradha Ramam is a firm believer of the fact that ‘only the paranoid survives’ …but all one needs is a rhythm in the madness.

The journey hasn’t been easy; the struggle has been endless from the start, but her passion, quest for perfection and positive attitude has helped her make a mark. She started with showcasing her collection at exhibitions but now she has a studio and a store at eminent locations in New Delhi. 

Anuradha Ramam truly believes in giving back to the society. She not only supports the weavers but also donates a certain percentage of her earnings to a cause and  has been actively involved in social work and has designed exclusively for fund raising events for various NGOs and societies like Tamana and Save Children India.

A new board was elected by the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) on 28 February 2011. Sunil Sethi and T J Singh will continue to be on the board. The new board comprises of the following designers:

Fellow Members on Board 

1. Anju Modi

2. David Abraham

3. JJ Valaya

4.  Rohit Bal

5. Rohit Gandhi

6. Suneet Verma

7. Tarun Tahiliani

8. Wendell Rodricks

Associate Members on Board

1. Abhishek Gupta

2. Gautam Rakha

3. Namarata Joshipura

4. Niki Mahajan

5. Paras Bairoliya

6. Poonam Bhagat

7. Rajesh Pratap Singh

8. Varun Bahl 

 

Vidhi Singhania has mastered the art in weaving and has worked closely with traditional weavers from Kotah. She has revived the art of kotah sarees into a contemporary fashion statement.

The designer is a revivalist of Indian hand-woven looms. Her love for hand-woven looms and traditional textiles lead her to further research in different avenues of fashion. She also promotes Indian craft techniques like Leheriya, block and bagh printing, Batik and Zardozi to enhance her lines. Vidhi has been recognized as an ace revivalist.

Kotah is a sheer natural weightless fabric ideal for warm climates. It has a 20% silk input, which gives Kotah a sheen and an edge over its cotton counterparts. Hand woven with pure gold threads, it has an ethereal quality. Heavy Kotah brocade can take a weaver up to 4 months to complete. Simpler designs may take 10 to 15 days. Weaving is a family effort in Kotah. Families cook and sleep in the same room.

Delicate and fine like a spider’s web; Kotah over the years had become a weaver’s dream forgotten. But dreams have a quality of recurrence, as entrepreneur and designer Vidhi knows so well. She’s spent the last ten years reviving the art of Kotah nurturing it from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

When Vidhi Singhania shifted to Kotah, she and the eponymous fabric wove magic together. Her endeavour to revive an ancient art, better the lives of hundreds of families of weavers by keeping their looms busy through out the year, giving them design, colour, quality inputs and marketing facilities has made sure Kotah would not only stay alive but turn into a fabric of high fashion. Her success story lead her to the School of Varanasi & Chanderi and culminated into her State of the Art flagship store at New Delhi.

Fashion Designers Mother-Daughter duo Pragya and Megha Samor unveiled their new collection Haute Couture 2011 amid an exclusive Art Gala supported by Kumar Art Gallery at Olive. Minister of Steel, GoI Mr. Sachin Pilot was also present at the occasion.

About the inspiration behind this new collection, Designer Megha Samor said ‘we envisaged a world of glamour and decadence, an unique story to be told through each individual piece of thread used to create the vision we have created in the form of a garment .We have tried to make a beautiful symphony using a set of arbitrary notes. To bring a more avant-garde feel to the collection we have experimented with the colors, textures, embellishments, while working with new techniques.’’

 Further talking about the collection, Designer Pragya Samor said ‘’Using the highest quality of fabrics, which we have adorned with breathtaking colors, and a framework of intricate handwork using beads, crystals, stones, sequins, embroidery etc. all arranged in a aesthetic fashion to create an exquisite pattern. We seek to present the traditions and glamour of the Victorian age combined with a more contemporary and chic edge.”

The mood of the party was enthralled by performance by one man Band Dualist Enquiry aka Sahej bakhshi whose performance featured live Guitar and all original music.  Eminent personalities like Sr. Sachin Piolt (Honorable Minister of State, Telecommunications), Mr. Sunil Sethi, (President, FDCI), Dr. Prabha Thakur ( President Indian Woman Congress), Rahul Singh (Actor), Suneet Jain (Chairman, Kumar Art Gallery), Ashok Pradhan (Member of Parliament), Designer Samant Chauhan, Restraunteur AD Singh, among others.

Prolific accessories designer Rina Shah presents a collection at the forthcoming LFW that portrays her love for Polo. Rina started playing the equestrian sport a year ago and simply loves every moment on the ground, atop her horse. The collection titled Rinaldi Polo is as sporty chic & class, just like the game.

According to Rina "I love horses and always wanted to ride. Last polo season I had gone to watch a game with some friends and fell in love with the sport and since then have been pursuing it. This year has been one hell of a ride and i want my collection to reflect the fun & style around Polo". Rina who’s eaccessories have in the recent past been carried by Natalie Portman, Pamela Anderson and even Goldie Hawn and Naomi Campbell, travelled to Santa Barbara to learn and train for this ongoing Polo season.

Using her signature style of embellishments with crystals and coloured stones Rina has created a line with equestrian prints, polo prints on large bags with bamboo handles. The theme is brought to life with saddle bags with trimmings, reins handles on oversize bags, spur straps with crystals and feathers and even a sexy collection of belts with horses at buckles.

Competing for a highly sought after spot in the bi-annual Dubai Fashion Week(DFW), Emerging Talent show, organizers, Capital Marketing, have revealed this seasons winners; Anna Gurgacz, Polish, (E.G.O. gurgaczio), Azadeh Zandi, Iranian, (Voguish), Kay Li, Chinese, (Fight to Survive), Sara Al Refai, Syrian (Gypsy Girl), Sarah Mrad, Lebanese, (Sarah Mrad), and Sophie Wanney, German (Fiokafini).

Winners were selected from a pool of over 50 applicants, with the top 6 designers making the cut from a competitive shortlist of 22. Each designer will début 8-10 runway looks at DFW Fall/Winter 2011 (FW11), taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre, from 19th until 23rd April 2011. In addition to showcasing their collection, winners will also be furnished with an exhibition installation providing them with a platform to make business-driven associations.

Commenting on the Emerging Talent selection, Manoj Bhojwani, Chairman, Dubai Fashion Week and Chairman, Capital Marketing, said, “This contest is a very important component of DFW® like most of international fashion weeks. Young designers must be presented with an avenue through which they can display their designs to the fashion community and what better platform than DFW.”