Pret-ty Young Things

They glanced at the audience from the corner of the ramp, made a shy wave of acknowledgement, took a humble bow and then hastily evaporated into the perfumed crowds. It was difficult to smell them out in the annual gathering of India's fashion pundits, but their young, trippy creations made India's biggest fashion jamboree—the Lakme India Fashion Week 2002—fresh and fragrant. "Some of the biggest brand names of tomorrow will emerge from the not-so-well known names of today," predicted Ravi Krishnan, managing director, IMG/TWI, South Asia, organisers of the event. And if LIFW was anything to go by, then the future face of Indian fashion seems to belong to the Spice Girls of Indian fashion—Anshu Arora Sen, Priyadarshini Rao, Aparna Chandra, Aparna Jagdhari, Pooja Nayyar and Nandita Basu.

The headlines were bound to be hogged by the top shots: Rohit 'Gudda' Bal's flamboyant, silver jewellery-clad Men in Black had everyone agape, the aristocratic confidence of Ritu Kumar reflected well in her classic cuts, Rocky S's tacky denim show got undeserved mileage from Boris Becker's star presence and street fashion guru Manish Arora kept all in good humour with his graffiti clothes that loudly proclaimed 'Jack and Jill had sex'. That was all for the starry evenings, the noons were all a girls' day out.

Surprisingly, these girls don't seem to belong to the world they may be ruling tomorrow. Aparna Jagdhari with her glasses looked more like a science student about to commence on a new experiment, Pooja Nayyar a schoolgirl who'd strolled into the show without her teacher's permission and Aparna Chandra a collegiate who'd rather be partying while Anshu Arora Sen makes the perfect itinerant gypsy. "That's just the way we are," says Nayyar, casually. And no, this laidback spirit didn't reflect in the work. The look was obviously western, modern, international. "Their work was not embellished but interesting and fun. Young designers like Jagdhari and Arora Sen have been minimal, working on details in cut, style and structure," says Gautam Kalra of Bangalore design store Grasshopper. "It's all about having the confidence in what you want to do than delivering the stuff that others want," says Chandra. Hers was a blend of the Victorian and the Oriental while Nayyar mixed schoolgirl fun with gypsy cool. Rao resurrected the maxi of the '70s and the gathered skirts with frills and flounces, the colours being muted, autumnal browns. Jagdhari had structured jackets with flowing skirts, her focus being on separates. "I leave it to the customer to mix and match, the wearer should create his own image," she says. Arora Sen wanted to provide an alternative to the "global village number", and her collection ranged from holiday to lounge fashion to some fun with yesterday's trends.

What took these trendy collections ahead is an innate understanding of the market. Arora Sen's label, A Small Shop, reflects her gameplan. "It's all about simple things and detailing than big statements," she says. The focus for most is on affordability and wearability than heavy, glitzy couture. "They are defining the look for the youth which is very fashion-conscious and has money to spare," says Harmeet Bajaj, head of fashion design communication at NIFT. "The idea is to bring fashion to the masses," says Rao. "High fashion is limited, we are into big volumes and bigger audiences," says Basu. And buyers have reciprocated their sentiment. "Big designers are our bread and butter but new faces are the garnishing, they're very important," says Ami Desai of Raymond retail store, Be.

It's this ready market access combined with focused media attention that makes the fashion week special to the young. "Here even an XYZ can do a show in the same schedule as a Rohit Bal," says Krishnan.That's because it comes subsidised. The designers need to pay between Rs 35,000 and Rs 60,000 for the show, which includes charges for models, choreography, styling as well as the display stalls. The Fashion Design Council itself is realising the value of going young. It is planning to start a separate preliminary membership for young and graduating designers. "We could also create a parallel platform like the LIFW for young designers," says FDCI executive director Vinod Kaul. "We want to grow well. It's not about how far we go but how wide we reach," says Arora Sen. No limits to that.