Lakme India Fashion Week 2003 :: Manish Arora

Focus of Manish Arora's Collection for Lakme India Fashion Week 2003

Manish's Collection this year is eclectic ...its happy, its oriental, its funk, its war, its flowers, its bohemian, its industrial, its music, its powerful and its about love and being loved...

INSPIRATION
Manish draws his inspiration from a variety of incidents, events, episodes, dreams, news, war that effect human psyche. He is inspired by not only that hits one on the face but also that affects one on a subconscious level.

SILHOUETTES
Manish's collection emphasises on Street Couture...funky and yet wearable. The look is sporty but the emphasis has been detailing in terms of stitching and in prints. Manish who is the connoisseur in visualisation has made a bold statement by making his garments extremely jaunty .

FABRICS
Since his inspiration is a crucible, the fabrics vary from nets to felt. The range of fabric incorporate a lot of blends --smooth velvet, sensuous satin, Iycra, cottons, stretch knits and polyester.

COLOURS
Manish has used vibrant and tangy colours, which are quite an eyeful. military green, reds, browns, golds, blacks, shocking pink et al. fluorescent colours,

LOOK
Manish's aesthetics, design sense, cuts, styles and colours put him in a league apart from the rest. His clothes are an extension of him. They are about mystic, about magic, about comfort, about energy, about intelligence. In short Manish Arora has an uncanny look that screams Womanpower all the way.

RANGE
Manish Arora has a fetish to do work out of the ordinary .He specialises in western silhouettes...unleashing his creativity to the fullest. His collection includes retro womenswear ranging from skirts to uncanny yet wearable tops and jackets, very hip trousers and snug fit t-shirts. His collection also includes a brand new stunning range of accessories, which are well priced.

PRICING
Ranges from Rs 950 --Rs 9,500.

MANISH ARORA'S PROFILE
A product of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Manish graduated from the faculty of Fashion Design in 1994. On his graduating year he bagged the 'Most Creative Student' of the year award for his final project.

He also was the first runner up at the Smirnoff Fashion Awards held in Bombay in 1994. Visualisation has always been this designer's signature style and Manish Arora, after emerging from the portals of NIFT also participated in the much respected 'Young Asians Designers Competition' in 1995, held in Jakarta that year. At the show Manish presented 'Kalyug', yet another highly stylized and humorous presentation. This won him the 2nd runners up award and also the most Original collection award. It was in Jakarta that Manish was offered the job of a stylist for the French Vogue by its editor. But he preferred to stay back and launch his label 'Manish Arora'.

Manish has had various shows in different parts of the country and abroad each reflecting the designer's unmistakable style in a new way. His first solo show was in October 1998 at The Park Hotel, New Delhi. He has also been the official designer for the Vimal suiting and shirting campaign for the year 1998-99, and represented India at the Hong Kong Fashion Week, held in Hong Kong in January 2000.

He was a part of an exhibition on Kitsch held at India Habitat Centre. This exhibition saw the work of various well-known artists of India such as Atul Dodhiya, Anjolie Ela Menon, Ram, Rehman and many others, among which, his work stood out for its originality. It was at Selfridges (London) in May 2002 where he exhibited a similar work of art.

Keeping in view the upcoming market of ready to wear he launched a line of women's wear in February 2001 under the label 'Fish Fry'. For this label, he was also associated with Bacardi for a series of shows in various cities.

It was in the year 2002 that Mr. Martand Singh chose a few leading designers from our country to design clothes made from Khadi to revive this age old Indian fabric, it was inaugurated by honorable prime minister of India Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the same was showcased in all the leading cities of our country.

Manish has made costumes for a Bollywood film and for a French film that is currently being shot; he has dressed the likes of Bianca Jagger. Anoushka Shankar wore a dress that he specially designed for her at the Grammy Awards 2003.

He is opening his second Manish Arora/Fish Fry store in Mumbai by September this year and at the same time is also taking part at a trade fair in Paris and Milan.

Manish Arora retails at Carma in New Delhi, Ensemble in Bombay, Ffolio in Bangalore, Zenon & Kali in Kolkata, Zingara in Cannes (France), Cafe Des Baines in Geneva (Switzerland), Lord and Taylor in New York and his first flagship store at l-M.G.Road, New Delhi. He is also retailing through BE: outlets (A division of Raymond's Ltd.) in eight cities in India and in Dubai.

E-mail: manish_arora