Freedom

When you are the designer 'du jour', it's hard to go unnoticed and before long your signature style soon loses it's sheen.... I think that's going to be the case with Falguni and Shane Peacock....so with one look at the outfits for the new Sugababes single 'Freedom' and you know who designed the outfits.

Shantanu & Nikhil

Shantanu and Nikhil's designs have always been contemporary uber cool with a luxurious feel...their blend of color palettes, drapes and cuts are outstanding and of the shows presented so far during the Delhi Couture week..these are by far my favorite!
The romance is definitely there in this Elizabethan era inspired line.

Bibhu Mohapatra

He calls Waris Ahluwalia and Prabal Gurung his friends and retails at Bergdof Goodman...You’d think that a guy from India who won a scholarship to study Economics in the States would pursue a career in that field, but not Bibhu Mohapatra.... after earning a Masters Degree in Economics in Utah, he moved to NYC to enroll in F.I.T and is now one of New York’s super successful designers.

The designer in a recent interview said that he likes spending time in cemeteries because he loves reading the inscriptions on the gravestones. Well, this inherent dark side of his is very apparent in his cleverly crafted Fall 2011 collection which he previewed recently at the Lincoln Center. The collection drew inspiration from Arthur Miller's, The Crucible, which is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials. The inspired darkness that ensued is personified with touches of crow feathers, lace, silk, leather and fur.
Rather than having the models walk down a runway, the designer had them up on a central platform with some models sitting while the others stood. Periodically, the ones standing would sit down and vice versa. While the color palette stayed with deep luxuriant shades and dark patterns, the clothes had an unusual constructed liquidity about them.
For a day look, there were deep-hued blouses paired with fur and leather separates.
The evening gowns were beautifully crafted, again in rich luxurious hues.
To add to the drama, the khol-eyed models donned raven-feather chokers and leather gloves on one hand.
According to the designer, the collection is about the conflict of extreme opposites like good versus evil, dark versus light.

To trace the roots of his brilliance as a designer, you have to know that while he was still at F.I.T, Bibhu Mohapatra, was awarded Fashion Institute of Technology's Critic’s Award for Best Evening Wear Designer of the Year. Last year he was elected a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).
At the onset of his career, the designer had worked with iconic American brand Halston as an assistant designer and then spent a ten year stint as Design Director honing his skills creating Oscar-worthy gowns for J. Mendel under Gilles Mendel.

Waking up a sleeping giant!!

Paco Rabbane women’s wear is all set to get a boost from the king of quirky couture and decadent style....Manish Arora!
Manish Arora’s designs are all about a fantasy world where everything is bold and outrageous….from the colors to the prints and materials that he uses... so it comes as no surprise when the time came to choose a creative director....Manish Arora was chosen to head the line as his unconventional design aesthetic is very in sync with the house’s founding designer’s.
Spanish-born Rabanne who made a name for himself for the use of unconventional materials such as plastic, metal and glass for his creations left the house in 2006 in the pursuit of other artistic interests…with Manish Arora’s entry, it looks things have now come a full circle. Manish will present his first Paco Rabanne collection, the label's 2012 spring/summer line, in October.

"Wu"ing the First Lady

Jason Wu’s Spring 2011 collection is one that actually has echoes of ‘Spring’ in it!! The collection conjures images of an Americanized English tea-party enjoyed on a perfect summer afternoon with sunlight drifting in through the over-head trees..hmmmm...My day-dreaming often involves holidaying on some exotic island or shopping in New York or something other than what I'm currently doing... and I find that most times, I'm so caught up with imagining the perfect outfit to go with that scene, that I forget what I was trying to day-dream about in the first place! So this collection kind of fits the bill for all day-dream scenarios!
I love the soft drapes and color palette of this collection which graduates to bolder hues and then to nudes. Wu's use of chiffon and the over-sized bow detailing is so perfect and coupled with the languid flow of the trousers and gowns, it makes for a perfect outfit. The texturing on the skirts along with the flower detailing that he’s added to some of the outfits is so eye-catching... that it kind of renders an outfit bland without it! He blends floral and stripes so perfectly as well.
So it comes as no surprise that he is one of the First Lady’s chosen designers!