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Indian women are becoming more conscious of the
designer labels and fashion designing is becoming a big time
business. Featured here are two leading fashion designers from
Bombay.
The image of haute
couture garments has taken on a different dimension on the fashion
charts in India with the emergence of the new breed of fashion
designer expertly qualified from reputed fashion institutions in
India and abroad. A garment is not only judged by its creativity but
by the designer label at the nape of the neck. The opening of high
fashion houses like Ensemble and Glitterati with their own exclusive
stable of reputed designers have given a fresh impetus to the trade,
moving fashion designing from a ‘weekend’ pastime for board
housewives to a multi-million rupee business. Seasonal ranges of
garments are presented by designers to exhibit their designing
prowess. Fortunately the Indian designer moves along his own personal
dictates quite oblivious to fashion trends worldwide. With the
competition hitting up every season, as new names enter the field,
the section of buyers that is eagerly wooed is the upper class who
ignores the price tag but is concerned about the designer label.
Besides making vigorous attempts to attract the right type of
clientele for their garments. Fashion shows which had hitherto been
the prerogative of established mills and commercial houses are now
held in India and abroad by individual designers at considerable
expense with top flight models. The roster of Indian fashion
designers of the ethnic and western genre has names that command a
lot of respect. Prominent among them are Shahab Durazi and Wendell
Rodricks, two names that have made a considerable mark on the fashion
scene with their own distinctive styles.
The Durazi-Rodricks
creation can be termed as haute couture by western standards and can
compete with the best in the world. In line and form both designers
are past masters in the art of styling and can e credited with giving
fashion designing in India the direction it so desperately requires.
No longer do the fashion
conscious in the country long for Parsian, American or English
designer labels. In fact, Durazi and Rodricks both have legions of
foreign clients as well as the very fashionable NRIs not to mention
of course the upper strata of Indian society.
Within a short span of
one and a half years Shahab Durazi, designer par excellence, has
carved an enviable niche for himself in the world of Indian fashion.
To convince the otherwise flamboyantly over-dressed Indian woman to
opt for classic, elegantly tailored suits has been Durazi’s
biggest coup. The very mention of the name Durazi either evokes sighs
of admiration or spontaneous applause from fashion show audiences
even before the unveiling of his collections. A tribute no doubt to
his designing skills.
The Durazi design story
has been quite simple and straight forward like his creations. A
commerce graduate, his first love was always fashion designing and
after applying to three institutions in the U.S.A., Fashion Institute
of Technology (FIT), Parson’s School of Design and Pratt
Institute and getting admission in all three, he opted for FIT, the
most suitable for his concept of designing. One of the most talented
Indian students to have graduated from FIT, his creativity at the
time of graduation (with an associate degree in fashion designing)
was further endorsed with the Bill Blass Award for the Most
Outstanding Fashion Student and the garment award from the critic of
the Industry- Harve Bernard for the Best Garment Design in the
tailored section. Rightly termed in India as the master of cut, style
and finish Durazi’s definition of fashion in his own words is “I
favour the simple, timeless clean lines, perfectly streamlined styles
that balance a cautious play of colour and texture to give the
garments a formal elegance and a season less edge.”
His treatment of fabrics
like wool crepe, pure wool, linen and silk in traditional pattern
like hounds tooth, plaid stripes, herringbone and checks is totally
unconventional. Favourite colours are black, white, ivory, beige,
brown and for sheer drama-red.
Daurzi on arrival in
India in 1988 admits he was a little apprehensive when he showed his
two samples of classically tailored woolen suits to Glitterati. “But
I wanted to give it a try and I ended up selling woolen suits in
May!”
Durazi’s current
collection of black,, white, ivory, red and brown is moulded on
softer lines “ yet the silhouette is similar-boxy yet not
severe.” Durazi accentates the shoulders in his garments as “It
makes the Indian women look less hippy.” As a specialist in
tailored suits Durazi’s obvious choice of an idol is Gioria
Armani. Favouring fabrics with body and weight. “I have not
worked with softer fabrics for the actual garment, though I do use
skills and organizes to accessorize them.” The designer who
specialized in tailored designs at FIT feels that for his concept of
garments wool, linen, rayon and crepe are ideal choices. “Pure
cotton is not the perfect choice for my clothes. Jackets, skirts,
blouses, coats, Bermudas and trousers in structured lines are
Durazi’s forte.
Inspirations are arrived
at from fabric selections. “Combinations are thrown together but
no sketches are made “the finished sketch is at the end of the
garment after drafting of the pattern which is followed by a very
detailed specification sheet giving minute instructions for the
garment construction.” All master patterns are cut by Durazi in
muslin. The Durazi collection since April 1989 at Glitterati have
grown in numbers from a mere 12 garments to his current line which
has 40 styles for morning and evening wear. There is a marked
influence of the 50s in all his styles “when the silhouette was
tailored to feminine perfection but not mannish.”
“My aim is to make
clothes as simple as possible. Women do not have the time for fussy
wear.” Each Durazi creation can either be worn on its own or
co-ordinated with other items. Accessories for his garments vary from
buttons, collars, scarves, corded braids, tassels to crests. “It
is a timeless fashion line that I aim to create, that is not boaring
but with enough details to become memorable.”
Unfortunately, there were
no design schools in India when Wendell Rodricks decided to become a
fashion designer. So the climb up to achieve his ambition was hard
and slow via a hotel and catering management course that landed him a
job at the Royal Oman Police Officer’s Club, Sultanate of Oman,
to work as assistant director and gather enough funds for admission
to the American College for Applied Arts, Los Angles where he topped
his class when he walked out with an associate degree in fashion
designing. Still unsatisfied, the next stop was the Paris American
Academy in France where he trained under Rose Giret, renowned fashion
journalist and designer. “America is more commercial but less
creative and Paris is a city of contacts where discrimination is
quite rampant. “But back in India he was snapped up by the
Premlila Vithaldas Polytechnic, SNDT Women’s University as a
teacher for their dress designing course and by Garden-Vareli Ltd. To
head their design cell that creates the Miss.Vareli line. Early this
year Rodricks launched his own personal label with a certain amount
of hesitation but no regrets, at Glitterati. Entering an
over-saturated Indian fashion scene Rodricks comments “the
selling factor is emphasized far too much which at times dilutes
designs to achieving acceptance.”
Rodricks, a versatile yet
very unconventional designer is never discouraged by critics as he
adds “creating a style or line that is later street translated
into a different version is my aim. Sometimes that enables a wearer
to adapt design directions into actual applications. The Rodricks
collection was launched with diaphanous organza overshirts followed
by an African line and ends with his current range for the 16-20
years old girl “who need not look older than her age and yet not
be robbed of her youth.” Inspired by Picasso’s creations at
a ceramic museum, he has created a luxurious international teen look
in chiffon and silk in mix-n-match fluorescent colours that are very
eye-catching. His lavish use of tassels, beads and gold hand painted
motifs are because “tassels and beads move very well with the
body and the hand-painted gold motifs add the right touch of
glimmer.” Minute detailing like pleats and enveloping large
trapeze shapes for the cape-a-la-Matador which are huggable over
revealing clothes add the right touch. There is a great dearth of
young fashion wear that Rodricks hopes to fill. Basically a designer
in the western genre, Rodricks wants to experiment with his roots.
‘the ultimate aim of Indian designers should be neither to ape
the west nor become clones of the ethnic style but to evolve a
distinct Indian look that can be immediately identified with the
country as is the case right now Japanese, Italian, French and
American designers. Indian fabrics given a characteristic western
treatment will give Indian fashion the exposure and recognition it so
badly needs.” This is evident in his Chanderi Kameez churidaar
collection and the designer saris. “For the former I have used
jewel-toned Chanderi in strong colours in flowing shapes with wide
necklines to allow the use of jewellery. “For the sari which is
for the older woman he prefers to stay within acceptable parameters”
you can play with a sari only that much and a lady wouldn’t like
to make too strong a fashion statement in one.” Tassels and hand
painted gold motifs inspired from the wall paintings in Gujarat are
the only form of embellishment. Although the garments are created
from India fabrics they would not look out of place in western
surroundings.
Besides having a list of
private clients which include many foreigners for whom he creates
exclusive designs, Rodricks design adaptability is put to the test
for Garden-Vareli’s ready-to-wear simplified styles, or wedding
gowns or tailored suits. To keep in touch with western trends
Rodricks quarterly visits abroad not only aid him in selling many of
his creations but also to soak in the latest developments.
Although the average
Indian’s fashion sense has increased it could be due to an
enhanced economic condition. Rodricks concept of fashion designing
means “a continuous process of evolution and creativity that
should always be present in all garments. Only then can a designer
have truly arrived. To pander to popular demands is to take the easy
way out.”
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