Photographs: Sanjay Sawant
For years, we've come to expect clothing of the very highest standards from designer for the stars, Neeta Lulla. Now, her young daughter Nishka is carrying on the tradition.
The mother and daughter pair opened Day One of the Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai this year. Talk about beginning with a bang!
Rediff.com caught up with Nishka, and she filled us in on her LFW debut.
You've grown up around fashion, have you ever considered anything else in terms of career?
I made the decision to be a designer right from my childhood, when I was intrigued by seeing the way my mother -- designer Neeta Lulla -- dressed up the biggest Bollywood artists and made them look so beautiful and different every time. I started by stitching little garments for my Barbie dolls and gods and the interest began from then. I studied at Bombay Scottish School
(ICSE) and graduated in apparel manufacture and design, a three-and-a-half year extensive course, right after schooling from SNDT University in Mumbai. I did think of switching to medicine for a while but decided on fashion.
What is it like having celebrity lineage? Do you feel a lot of pressure to perform well, knowing your mom's achievements?
It's tough having celebrity lineage, since there is already a high standard of expectations that people set for you accordingly. There is pressure to perform equally well.
My work differs from my mother's since she caters to a wide age group of clientele in diffusion, couture and bridal. My collections are pret -- ready-to-wear, off-the-rack -- which target young girls from the age group of 15 to 30.
Has your family been supportive of your decision to enter fashion?
My family has been overjoyed more than supportive about my decision to carry on the legacy!
How would you describe your style?
Young, fun, girly!
What's the toughest thing about design? Do you ever just want to throw your hands up and quit?
The toughest thing is to come up with something different every time and crossing the expectations already set for you. No, I don't believe in quitting. My job is demanding but fun and interesting so I don't fall into that situation.
What's your favourite thing about it?
I love to design from my soul, so every outfit is a reflection of me. I love to see people wearing my creations and enjoying it. They say they feel pretty, girly and younger and it feels nice to get that feedback.
There's a belief, reinforced by movies like Fashion, that high fashion is a world of fake and immoral people. Have you found that to be the case?
No, it's not like that in mine at least.
What's the design, collection or moment you're most proud of?
The Barbie outfit which Katrina Kaif wore and the outfits I designed for the Gods at Iskcon Temple in Mumbai this year for the occasion of Gokulashtmi, as well as Radhashtmi. It was spiritually overwhelming to dress my Gods!
Tell us a little about your design for Katrina, the Barbie outfit. How did that come about? How did you feel when your design was chosen?
It was a milestone to win the Barbie contest. It was Barbie's 50th anniversary and was celebrated in India so about 100 of India's renowned designers participated and designed a birthday outfit for Barbie. I designed a young girly frock since Barbie is young and eternal, with lots of frill and volume to add to her glamour. Most importantly it was in India, so I added in Indian colours of rich blue, hot pink and golden yellow, used rich Indian brocade and textured the outfit with Shibori, an old Indian art of dyeing fabrics in multiple colours. It was a dream come true to learn that I won this competition since the best known designers had also participated. Most importantly, Barbie was the first person I dressed ever, back in my childhood. What a coincidence!
What can we expect from you in the future?
Setting new trends and style statements! (smiles)
Anupama Dayal: I was born to design
Photographs: Uday Kuckian
On designing for a living, she says, "It's a blessing and a gift to be allowed to do this. I honestly believe I was born for this."
One of her favourite things about design, she says, is cultivating, preserving and promoting timeless, indigenous handcraft techniques often found in the 'other' India, the India that lives on less than a dollar a day. "It's essential to keep in mind the 33 per cent of our population that lives in abject poverty," she explains. "Preserving these techniques and organising
what is a cottage industry into something more profitable and coherent is one way the fashion industry can help."
Enter her spring-summer collection, titled Joie (French for joy), with its emphasis on blues, particularly indigo, which Anupama still obtains the old-fashioned way: painstakingly done by hand with natural dye.
Tell us about your collection.
The collection is called Joie, which is joy in French. I just did a show Paris last week, and next week I'll do another there. So the French influence was certainly in mind when I designed the pieces. Each dress in the collection has a specific name, in French.
In its essence, this collection is about happiness. It's about a sense of confidence and a sense of self. There are a lot of big blooms, so there's a strong natural element. I do believe that if I were not a designer, I'd be a naturalist. So that usually comes through in my work. Also, I've been focusing a lot on Australia recently, and those experiences have also informed my work. There are some metro aspects to the collection too, like the clean, geometric patterns.
As for colours, the focus is on blues: robin egg, cerulean, indigo, etc. But there's also an explosion of pinks and red.
Define your personal style in a single sentence. And tell us about what you're wearing.
Languid and uber-cool.
I'm wearing an indigo Anupamaa top, entirely natural and hand-made. I think the cut has international appeal, but still has that Anupamaa flair. Skirt is a Zara. So it's really a mix-and-match combination. It's very me.
Design as a career...
It's a blessing and a gift to be allowed to do this. I honestly believe I was born for this. It's just an exciting, rewarding profession.
With the tremendous success of stores like Mango and Zara, globally people are beginning to say that everyone dresses the same. And it's true. One of the great things about fashion, specifically about being a designer, is that you get the chance to fill those gaps, to do the unique.
Which celebrities would you love to dress?
Meryl Streep, Scarlett Johansson and Shabana Azmi.
Nachiket Barve: Bollywood isn't a necessary evil
Photographs: Uday Kuckian
Nachiket Barve is a designer whose clothes you would want to wear. He is also a man you can probably share a conversation with and walk out with a smile on your face.
The young Mumbai-based designer has been creating waves in the circles that matter for quite some time now.
Barve is a man with a quiet demeanour. There're very little chances that you'll see him parading around with a publicist by his side. Yet when you do meet him he will have your attention from the word go.
Perhaps the most interesting part about Nachiket Barve is the fact that he comes from a family of doctors. Both his parents are medical practitioners and he tells us that everyone from his sister's family is a doctor too.
Barve's home in Mumbai is in Vile Parle, a charming suburb that has housed some of best minds of the country. The late playwright Vijay Tendulkar was just one among many who count Parle as their home.
The designer who was born there and spent a good deal of his life before going on to travel the world over tells us that it's his upbringing that helps him keep his head over his shoulders.
"It's easy for people to perceive that fashion is all about fun and glamour," he says pointing something many of us in the media are aware of, "but it's a lot of hard work."
Barve who says he has just one assistant and works from '9 in the morning to 11 in the night' has little or no time for television or socialising.
His nocturnal television viewing sessions, if any, are restricted to the National Geographic Channel.
"I would have been a wildlife photographer or a chef if I hadn't been a designer," Barve says telling us of his tiger snapping and whale watching sojourns to Kanha and Alaska respectively.
"I grew up reading Childcraft and Reader's Digest assimilating all kinds of information as I went along. I also happened to lay my hands on a copy of Vogue early on in my life. And that's when I realised what I really wanted to be," he adds
When Barve is not shooting wildlife pictures, he is usually working paying close attention to his creations, which he is justifiably proud of.
So when you tell him that the buzz around his latest collection in the media centre has been somewhat mixed, he is curious though unfazed. "The people whose opinion matters to me have quite liked it," he says without sounding pompous or dismissive.
"It is always good to have feedback. But it is also important to be self confident. Critics and buyers are essential. But you must be able to strike a balance between what you think is best and what they think will work," he adds.
Barve confesses it sometimes gets difficult to tread on this thin red line but points out that everyone has to do it.
Talk Bollywood and the young designer offers an interesting take. "Why do see Bollywood as a necessary evil?" he asks. "For every one person watching a show here there are thousands who watch a film -- even if it is a bad one. And if it's a good film, the number runs into lakhs! If you want to reach out to the people, Bollywood is the best medium."
You ask him if Bollywood has called him yet and he replies in the negative. A few seasons ago Jaya Bachchan had graced his show. Maybe it's only a matter of time. Till then, we're sure cheering for this Mumbai boy.
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