As a tribute to the Centenary of Mother Teresa, M F Husain and Kolkatta based   artist Sunita Kumar will show 20 paintings each of the Mother  in a show titled "20 -20 Paintings" at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London on June 30th, 2010. The exhibition will continue in Kolkata from Mid November for six weeks.

Husain and Kumar have produced an exhibition of sharp contrasts. Husain, who felt, “completely spent,” after a seven week stint at the Missionaries of Charity, has produced tough, bold images which depict poverty and death on large printed scrolls. Kumar, who is Mother Teresa’s biographer, gives her portraits a lighter more intimate touch. An image of a small bedroom where recycled oil tins were adapted into a postal sorting system; a fleeting glimpse of Mother Teresa at the back of a train carriage (she always put everyone else first); her great love for children; and the carefree moments of a Sister and helper playing happily together on a swing.

Optimism radiates from Kumar’s paintings, and through them she demonstrates above all, “my love for Mother…I wanted to portray her through my painting. I could not tell her what I wanted to say in words.” Mother Teresa encouraged her to paint, and asked her to capture on canvas Kalighat, the House for the Dying, whose inhabitants are portrayed in this exhibition in an atmosphere of peace.

M F Husain known as the Picasso of India was born in Pandharpur 1915, and self- taught as an artist. Husain also achieved success as a photographer. His photographs were exhibited at The Tate gallery in London. Then he ventured into making films and won the Golden Bear award at the International Berlin Film Festival in 1967. In 1971 he was invited, along with Picasso, to participate in the Sao Paolo Biennale. In recent years, he has become one of the most sought after artists at auction, with prices rising to $2 million for a painting.

The leading casual apparel and fashion accessories brand unveiled its New High Summer Collection through a high decibel fashion show. The capital witnessed an evening exemplified with glamour & style, as Beverly Hills Polo Club hosted a special preview adorned with the charm of top models.

The evening splashed panache and glamour with beauty on the ramp visibly seen in the matchless designs flaunted by the gorgeous models. The range is stunning with vibrant colors, chic styles and elaborate detailing. The brand complements every facet of lifestyle as it offers a complete fashion wardrobe for coordinated clothing to get one a complete look. It comprises of graphic tees, polos shirts, woven shirts, jeans and fashion accessories. The biggest trend for the summer season is an explosion of Colour and vitality. Colors such as Breeze, Miller time, Cosmo, Sunset, Midori and Bacardi create a sense of excitement as they thread their way from woven shirts, to screen tees to Yarn dye and Iconic Polo’s.

Well known models like Amanpreet Wahi, Rakesh Mann, Rajat, Ritu Singh, Kajal Srivastava and many more dawned the creations from the Beverly Hills Polo Club portfolio and sizzled on the ramp to make the evening highly entertaining for the audience. 

The grand opening of the first exclusive Raymond Weil Boutique in India, the biggest RW boutique in the world, in Delhi was announced. The brand has an historical presence on the Indian markets, thanks to its founder Mr. Raymond Weil, who was the first Swiss manufacturer to penetrate and develop the local market.

As a family owned company Raymond Weil through its newly opened Indian subsidiary, is more than committed to expand in India and bringing with an increased brand awareness and presence in many distinctive point of sales.

The evening of celebration and indulgence at Sheraton Hotel was accompanied with a spectacular performance by Nirupama-Rajendra of the fabled ‘Abhinav Dance Company’ as they brought alive theme for the evening titled, ‘Symphony in Perfection’.

Speaking on the occasion, Oliver Bemheim, President and Ceo, Raymond Weil said, “RW and the Indian market is a longstanding relationship. Our brand was the first Swiss watch brand imported in India thanks to my father-in-law Mr Raymond Weil, and it was 30 years ago.”

The occasion also announced the launch Raymond Weil exclusive stores in Bangalore and Pune simultaneously after the Delhi store.

The luxury Italian Sportswear brand Paul & Shark is now in India with its first store at the Emporio Mall, New Delhi.

A lifestyle sportswear brand distinguished by the unmistakable “shark logo”, has over the years become synonymous with freedom, casual elegance and comfort around the world. The Paul & Shark consumer is sporty, well off, travels for business or for pleasure and plays at least a couple of sports but above all he loves the weekend and relaxing outdoors.

Spread across 1000 sq.ft, the Paul&Shark store offers the Indian consumers a complete menswear collection that can be worn in diverse social occasions like workplace, holiday, leisure time and traveling. The collection includes casual and elegant clothes like shirts and polos, top performing knits and sweaters, lightweight and technical outerwear, pants, accessories and footwear.

Speaking on the launch Mr. Andrea Dini, Owner & CEO of Paul&Shark said, “The opening of the Paul&Shark store in India is the culmination of a long cherished goal to enter this unique market place and also marks the beginning of a very promising partnership with the Reliance Group.”

The Regency ball of The Hyatt, New Delhi echoed with the thundering applause to cheer up the graduating batch of NIFT Leather Design 2010 as the fashion show innovazione concluded last night.  The budding designers who showcased their respective collections were filled with liveliness, creativity and enthusiasm at par which thrilled the whole crowd there.

The temperature raised few degrees up automatically as the efforts materialized practically on the ramp.  Leather is not only a material using which fantasies can be crafted, but also can be associated with the Eco-chic trends of the present scenario, as effectively put up by Asit Barik who bagged two awards for the best innovative collection and graduating project. On the similar lines Ishani Capore was awarded the Saroj Int. best wearable collection for Garments and Madhumita Burgohain for Accessories.

The four years Bachelors in Leather Design from NIFT, New Delhi caters to the requirement of the leather industry in terms of goods, apparel and research. The emphasis is always put on to integrate the design concepts in the apparel and product with material knowledge to effectively respond to the requirements of the specific target markets. This journey of the student designers not only polishes them to become visionary professionals but also grooms them to stand on their individual feet.

Apart from conventional designing this time the designer batch added feather’s to their hat by putting "thought" into the whole process. While Priyam Sapra used futuristic pigmented-foiled materials in her ensembles, Sheena Roy tried to bring inside out, Ramandeep’s ensembles brought out riches of the ocean.

Accessorizing the glam quotient, Nidhi Jalwal put forth her Jewellery collection. Nupur Nagpal tried to decode the shackled courtsan while Shivangi Shaily’s collection of Natural Luminosity inspired range instigated to live! Rajni added craftsmanship to the mystical collection. Rimzhim brought up hair on collection of products.  Not to forget were the designer duo Kawleen and Nayantara who did an audio-video presentation on their research work done on skill development in India and content development for the leather industry.

Innovation and vision put up borne sweet fruits henceforth, the Guests of honour included FDCI president Mr. Sunil Sethi, NIFT’s Director General Mr. Rajiv Takru, Fashion industry biggies, ace photographers and fashionistas from the industry. Creativity is synonymous to excellence and when weaved with dreams, it shines brightly like it did for these 27 Leather designers from the class of 2010 NIFT!

-Shivangi Shaily
B.Design, NIFT, New Delhi.

Corelle Light, a line extension of the popular diner brand launched with a unique fashion show held in Mumbai. Joseph Mallof, Global CEO of World Kitchen unveiled the product in India and models like Ashima Jain, Dimple Patel, Unnati Davara and Shreya Kishore walked the ramp displaying the new range.

Most bakewares are heavy and difficult to mange but the r&d at Corelle, have taken the consumer into consideration and created a product that is fifty percent lighter than ceramic bakeware available in the market. It is designed using a revolutionary material called Vitrelle which is a unique composition of a durable three layer sandwich glass contruction. This makes it break and hip resistant, dishwasher and microwave safe.

Speaking on the occasion Joseph Mallof said, “We at World Kitchen strive to make our consumer’s experience in the kitchen as stress free as possible. With changing lifestyles and time being of great essence, Correlle Light is the dish that will save those precious hours as baking, serving, baking, serving, storing and carrying is all possible in the same dish.  We value our Indian consumers and aim at creating innovative products that suit their lifestyles.”

Sunday afternoon, the “Art of Chilling” party hosted by Foster’s at Sea Princess, Mumbai saw city’s crème de la crème relax with chilled fosters and appetizing barbecue doing the rounds as the DJ spinned out chilled music.

This party brought alive the very spirit of the brand and the “Art of Chilling” way to relax and have fun on a Sunday afternoon. Add to this the prospect of meeting like minded people who share the ‘chill out credo’, and you have all the making of a truly happening party. 

Speaking on the occasion, Derek Hugh Jones, Director Marketing, SABMilller India said, “Foster’s is happy to be back in the city with its Barbecue poolside party. These afternoon parties with barbecue, Foster’s and friend bring in a whole new experience to our consumers. The Art of Chilling parties’ exemplifies relaxation and chilled out quotient of Foster’s and we are happy to spread this experience.”

The brunch was funfilled and relaxed with guest enjoying their day with friends by the poolside.

An exhibition promoting Indian textiles is on at the British Council India from the 1st to the 10th of June. It is showcasing work done by professional drawn from India and other parts of the world under a project sponsored by the Department of Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), UK with the objective of reinforcing sustainable practices in the fashion and textile trade in India and UK. The project is initiated by the London College of Fashion in collaboration with the Pearl Academy of Fashion. 

A number of Indian and British designers who contributed to the project were Nitin Bal Chauhan, Samant Chauhan, Saurabh Chauhan, Kritika Dawar, Eleanor Feddon, Dhairya Gautam, Katharina Grube, Gaurav Gupta, Varun Gupta, Anjana Jjanardhan, Shahil Jaisingh, Padmaja Krishnan, Gunjan Kumar, Pratyush Kumar Maurya, Esther Miles, Anne Prahl, Holly Pressdee, Nieves Ruiz Ramos, Shazia Saleem, Monalisa Saran and Annemarie Van Der Ven.

This project is aimed at building capacity, sharing best practice, exploring market opportunities and to generate awareness among design students and the designers for using more sustainable Indian textiles. India is an important player in the clothing and textile industry. The industry is a large net foreign exchange earner and is a major employment provider within India. The country is the third largest cotton producer in the world and it accounts for 22 per cent of global spindleage and 61 per cent of global loomage.

In 2009, DEFRA through the Sustainable Development Dialogue (SDD) fund backed the Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF) at London College of Fashion and Pearl Academy of Fashion, New Delhi to run a project to promote Indian sustainable textiles. Improving patterns of sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in India and the UK is one of the agreed areas for collaboration under the UK: India SDD fund. The project is also part of a body of work taking place under the DEFRA Sustainable Clothing Roadmap, which aims to improve the sustainability of clothing.