Neeta Lulla : Marvel of Indian fashion

India has always took pride in its ethnicwear – and quite a few designers have made their mark worldwide in this craft. Fashionistas across the globe enjoy the rich heritage from this great country through its marvelous fashion designers. Some designers have done extremely great in this field with a three-sixty degree development of the field – be it in movies, fashion label and social activism. Neeta Lulla is one such jewel from the Indian fashion industry.

Neeta Lulla has been working all her life in the city of Mumbai. She spent much of her professional time in close proximity to film industry. She has contributed majorly in the professional as well as personal wardrobes of global celebrities like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan – who gets along with Neeta like a friend. Aishwarya wore her wedding trousseau designed by Neeta Lulla exclusively. Some pf the most iconic costumes in Indian films like Devdas, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Jodha Akbar etc, are done by Neeta Lulla.

Neeta Lulla joined the legend Subhash Ghai to explore the fashion studies for the new crop of fashion designers in India. The Whistling Wood International Neeta School of Fashion was started by Neeta in 2013 in collaboration with Subhash Ghai.

Neeta Lulla won the prestigious Natinal Film Award for best costmes for Lamhe (1991), Devdas (2002), Jodha Akbar (2008) & Balgandharva (2011). She has a long list of various other awards & accolades won in the field of costume designing.

Her official website if full of fantastic work - https://www.neetalulla.com

Neeta Lulla has contributed to the ethnic wear sector through her commendable work in the film industry. Great Indian Fashion Town is proud to feature her as the jewel of the fashion town.

Use of metal in Indian fashion

India has always been a great fan of gold – be it about wearing it or keeping in bank lockers.

The common man in India treat metal with a lot of importance in their daily life. Many metals have found great value in religious rituals too. Many metals have been used for health reasons as well. But the most favourite metal for Indians – specially women – is gold accessory. Many of the Indian traditions from different religions have given the gold metal an important place. Many important jewelry with traditional value are made ut of gold. One can very well understand the infinite love for gold among Indians. So much so, that gold have got easy inroads in the apparel worn by them.

Banarasi sarees and Zardosi are few of the many beautiful examples of gold being incorporated in various forms of dresses in India. The gold metal superfine threads are woven into the fabric as well as used in intricate embroidery for surface ornamentation. The craft of infusing metal into dresses has won hearts abroad as well. 

Fashion designers, who work with metal as their basic fabric or material are called Metal Couturier. This craft needs very careful study and experience with metals. Many accessory designers have turned into metal couturiers – who now design dresses made from metals. Paco Rabanne was one of the earliest designer from Spain to use metal as the basic material for dresses. Another Spanish designer Manual Albarann worked on this difficult material too. India has her own metal couturier Rimzim Dadu, who has been designing metal dresses for a long time - an example below (pic courtesy : Rimzim Dadu) 

Other than gold, other metals being used in the apparel industry are silver, stainless steel, copper & aluminium. Many of these are used in the form of trims (buttons, zippers, etc.). Many of the official uniforms in Indian army use metal as trims as well as in the gallantry awards and medals.

 Stay tuned for more such exciting articles about fashion world.

 

India's first fashion Influencer

One has to wonder who could have inspired the fashion in the great country like India – which is home to rich heritage, marvelous textiles and amazing craftsmen. Who can drive in the passion which influences the shopping behavior so sharp. Well, the answer is very simple – the Cinema.

Indian film industry got its first ever movie released on 1913 by a passionate photographer Dhundhiraj Govind Phalke – as we fondly call him Dadasaheb Phalke. He is the reason why the Mumbai film industry earned the pride to give the mainstream cinema to India. As he worked in Mumbai all his life, Mumbai obviously got much ahead of the rest of the country.

 

As a commercial port along the western line, Mumbai got to see a lot of merchandise form countries abroad for the rich and super rich families. Often people used the foreign merchandise in high end gatherings but soon it started showing up in streets of Mumbai. Be it apparel or non-apparel, Mumbai got its hands on the western fashion much ahead of rest of the country.

Soon after, merchandise started showing up in movies when people spotted actors wearing jewelry & dresses from foreign lands. Copies of these articles started flowing in the black market and people wore artificial jewelry copied from movies. People of India were undergoing a lot of pressure from the British Raj and the movies gave them a medium to see the silver lining in their life. 

 

 

Post independence, the people wanted a refreshed life free from all the abusive lifestyle they had got used to. Soon, people started earning money from businesses across Mumbai, which left them some to spare on entertainment. People saw their imagination turning into reality on the silver screen. Movies became the favourite entertainment as well as source of inspiration for fashion. Fashion connected them to the actors in the movies and gave confidence to the common man.

Be it the necklace and dress of an actress or the hairstyle of the actor – soon ruled the streets of Mumbai and the other cities. Hence the film industry became the major source of fashion influence on Indians. 

 

The trend has continued till date. New age film personalities specially the actors & actresses are the most popular fashion influencers in India. 

Catch up on more such stories on the Great Indian Fashion Town.

Journey of cosmetic products in India

 

Women have always been the attractive gender and they have taken this responsibility since the civilizations started evolving.

The ancient science of cosmetology is believed to have originated in Egypt and India, but the earliest records of cosmetic substances and their application dates back to Circa 2500 and 1550 B.C, to the Indus valley civilization.

The women at that age used herbal cosmetic products like fragrances, face packs, body packs etc. which were specially prepared for the royal and rich families. Of course there were products for the common households like various lepas, oils, kaajal & mehandi – used till date by women in India.

Many of these products inspired the western countries, which came up with their commercialised brands offering the same products – just machine made. The royal families in India often used these product from the western countries – mostly fragrances – as their own home made products were considered much healthier and fresh to use.

However it was just after India attained its independence, that Pandit Nehru convinced the Tata group to start with India's first ever cosmetic brand. India's first indigenous cosmetic brand 'Lakshmi Beauty Products' was launched in 1952. It was later renamed Lakme (French word for Goddess Lakshmi) and won hearts of millions of hearts ever since. Lakme brand is owned by Hindustan Unilever since 1998 as it was sold by Tata group for INR 200 crores.

Many foreign brands have entered India since independence. They got very good response from this market and they decided to expand their sales channel in the country – reaching out to the urban and then the rural markets. Today these brands are available almost in every beauty parlour in the country.

While the startup wave hit India around the year 2010 – many Indian brands have come up with brilliant products, amazing services and marvelous ideas. The cosmetic market in India is touching US $ 6.7 billion in valuation and its not slowing down at all. It is surely a growing industry with loads of surprises coming up.

Watch out for the best of cosmetics and makeup experts in the Great Indian Fashion Town.

Earliest fashion brands in India

 

Its interesting to note that the earliest global brands which arrived in India were majorly catering to Indian men. The foreign brands made their inroads into Indian land through their loyal Indian customers. Many of their customers were from the royal families of India as well as few rich families in India. Most of these brands made accessories specially watches catering to the Maharajas and super rich gentlemen.

The Swiss watch brand Zenith came to India in 1901 and had the great Mahatma Gandhi & Jawahar Lal Nehru as its consumers. Zenith pocket watch was something the mascot of Swadeshi movement Gandhiji could not let go off. It was clearly because there was no Indian brand making pocket watches at that time – so it had no swadeshi alternative to this product.

The famed Nawanagar Cartier Diamond Necklace was created by Jacques Cartier in 1931 for the erstwhile Maharaja of Nawanagar (now Jamnagar), Sir Ranjitsinhji. The Nawanagar Ruby Necklace has also earned a spot among the most famous and finest jewelry pieces owned by Indian royalty. It was commissioned to Cartier in 1937 by Maharaja Digvijaysinhji Jadeja, the successor of Sir Ranjitsinhji as the Maharaja of Nawanagar. The Tiger’s Eye Turban Ornament was another impressive piece created by Cartier for Maharaja Digvijaysinhji Jadeja in 1937. One cannot simply talk about Cartier’s relationship with the Indian Maharajas, without the mention of Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala and one of Cartier’s regular clients.

Pierre Cardin had a pivotal to play in the Indian fashion story.

Design Guru Rajeev Sethi says “India has a huge debt to pay to Pierre. Pierre Cardin started fashion in India. He took Indian textiles across the world before anyone else did,” while showing Indian prints-inspired swatches clipped to the sketches he made while working for him. “He was able to immediately see the edge India had, the design, colour forms, which nobody else could see. India could be ancient and modern. That’s what he saw,” he explains.

In 1967, at the Ashoka hotel, the only five-star hotel at that time in Delhi, Cardin presented his collection—all made using Indian textiles—to a packed room, with Sonia Gandhi, then fiancé to Rajiv, sitting to the right of her prospective mother-in-law Indira Gandhi with Sanjay Gandhi alongside in the front row.

Lots of such interesting stories will find place in the Great Indian Fashion Town.

Stay tuned.

Fashion designing In India for the World

 

 

Surely people interested in global fashion follow the leading brands & design houses abroad. In India, some of the international brands have already made their presence felt. Versace, Gucci, Armani, Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton have been in India for quite some time and have been getting their business growing.

One can notice that most of these brands were first purchased by Indians on their trips abroad, bringing the products home after the trip. These brands were appreciated for their very fine quality and people made it a point to check these brands out on their next trip. The brands soon developed a liking amongst Indian fashionovas and hence these brands planned their launch in India.

Georgio Armani suits have pride themselves for the far superior quality of suits in terms of silhouettes and fabric used. Versace earned their name into the Indian fashion market with their flashy prints. Louis Vuitton attracted India's attention to their best ever designed leather handbags. All these global brands found appreciation in India for their fine quality of base material – fabric or leather.

On the other hand, India – home to the most luxurious blends of fabric textile – got its fashion industry limited to surface ornamentation for wedding trousseu. The tallest of names in Indian fashion designers – Ritu Kumar, JJ Vallaya, Manish Malhotra, Sabyasachi Mukherjee – they all have surface ornamented wedding wear as their most popular products. Surely bridal wear has given a solid anchor point in the global fashion market but Indian fashion industry has a bigger responsibility towards the world fashion.

It is time for these designers to start focusing on the marvelous textiles of India. As very well said by Sadhguru - “We need to rethink how we clothe ourselves, If all the designers can push towards encouraging everybody to make at least 50% of their wardrobes into natural fiber, it will be a great movement to start with.” 

Sustainability is the need of the hour and fashion industry needs to take charge of this. Apparel and non-apparel brands need to start taking the Indian treasure of textiles to the world.

Awards for Indian apparel designers

 

Designers in India often wonder about the awards they can win in India – as a validation to their excellence in work. Its quite daunting that scientists in India get a Nobel prize, armymen pride for the Paramveer Chakra, film makers wish to bag an Oscar and the citizen of India wishes to get a Bharat Ratna award – but not many awards are announced for the fashion designers in our country. So, this article is all about various awards fashion design students can target. While the list is small, we feel the need to mention a great personality who won an International award for India.

The first ever Oscar award winner from India was for the best Costume Design in 1982 was won by Bhanu Athaiya for the movie Gandhi. Her genius work was visible till her latest work in the movie Lagaan in 2002 for which she was honored with the National Film Award.

She made her debut as a film costume designer with the film CID in 1956. In her career spanning 50 years she has received numerous awards. She won the Academy Award for costume designing shared with John Mollo for the movie Gandhi in 1982. She also won two National Film Awards for her work in the Lekin... in 1991 & the oscar nominated movie Lagaan in 2002.

The National Film Award for Best Costume Design is one of the National Film Awrds presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals - the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus).

The award was instituted in 1984 and awarded annually for films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages.

Latest National Award for Costume Design was received by Mahesh Sherla & Nachiket Barve in 2020 for the movie Tanhaji.

Filmfare Award for Best Costume Designing is the most talked about award for apparel designers. This award ceremony started in 1954 and hence commands great respect among the film fraternity in India. Award for costume design was introduced in the year 1996 with its first ever recipient Manish Malhotra for the movie 'Rangeela'.

Till date, 17 awards have been won for the Costume Design category. Its amazing to note that the most celebrated designer among the film industry Manish Malhotra has won the Filmare award only once – while he never won a national award for costume design. Also its surprising that Sabyasachi never won a Filmfare award but won a National award for the movie 'Black' in 2005.

The latest Filmfare award for costume designing was won by Veera Kapur for the movie 'Sardar Udham Singh' released in 2022.

There are more awards announced till date for the costume designers.

The Producers Guild Film Awards, previously known as the Apsara Awards, is an award event hosted by the Producers Guild of India to recognize excellence in Indian film and television. Originated by filmmaker and scholar Amit Khanna in 2004, the Guild Awards were one of the major award events from 2004 till 2016, when the last awards ceremony happened.

The Screen Awards was an annual awards ceremony held in India honouring professional excellence in Indian film industry. The nomination and award selection is done by a panel of distinguished professionals from the industry. The awards were introduced by the SCREEN film magazine of The Indin Express Group in 1995. The magazine was acquired by STAR INDIA group in 2015 and subsequently closed down. Though Star India continues to sponsor the awards under the Star Screen Awards title.

The International Indian Film Academy Awards, popularly known as IIFA, is an annual awards ceremony for Bollywood. Produced by Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, the winners of the awards are decided by fans, who vote online for their favourite actors from the Hindi film industry. Instituted in 2000, the ceremony is held in different countries around the world every year.

The IIFA Utsavam is also part of the annual IIFA Awards celebrating the work in South India. The awards were introduced in 2016, around the films released in 2015.

India Fashion Awards is a platform founded in 2020 that honors fashion designers, models, photographers and every other tier of individual who contributes to the Indian fashion industry. The India Fashion Awards was conceptualized by founders Sanjay Nigam and Raj Sarthak Nigam to provide a platform for the fashion society, to support and honor the earnest professionals for the efforts and hard work, that they contributed in making the Indian fashion industry successful.

Forever Star India Award (or FSIA) is the biggest online platform that organizes National Level Tournaments and Award shows. This platform is especially for people who stand out in the crowd but can't find the perfect opportunity to flaunt their abilities. With the help of FSIA, the citizens of India can showcase their strengths and skills to the whole country on a digital platform.

So, this is for the fashion design students working hard in over hundreds of fashion institues in India – the world is ready to celebrate your work, all you have to do is give them your best work.

Great Indian Fashion Town is waiting for you to arrive.

Brand Sabyasachi's flagship store : a milestone for the Indian Fashion Industry

Well, its official. Sabyasachi has done it – one more time.

When he presented his first ever collection at NIFT Kolkata – nobody in the Institute could actually gauge the popularity it will gain. While everybody 'followed the west' in their design collections – Sabyasachi went against the stream to prove his ideology of raising social issues was far more inspiring. His pride towards his country and its people has not changed at all till this day.

Lets go through the magnificent store first and the discuss how its a landmark in Indian fashion industry.The Indian designer’s largest flagship yet, the store is sprawled over 25,000 sq ft and housed in the majestic neo-classical landmark built in the Italianate revival tradition. 

 

The ground floor holds the Sabyasachi bridal trousseau collection. 

The first floor is dedicated to the brand’s largest showcase of jewellery in the world, housing fine, heritage & rich collections.

The second floor houses to womenswear, menswear, the international collection, and Sabyasachi's accessories. Hidden lounges and dens dot each floor, with a tearoom tucked away behind silk velvet drapes, which offers guests a moment of pause with a curated list of Sabyasachi’s favourite blends. 

 

When India is enjoying the amazing brands from the west today, Sabyasachi has come up with a flagship store in Mumbai which is nothing less than magnum opus. This journey of brand Sabyasachi is not of a few years but of decades. He started as a fashion student from a humble family – who often borrowed money from his friends to pay his canteen bills. It must be something really fantastic which makes his brand products range from lacs to crores today.

Everyone in the fashion industry knows how Sabyasachi was first discovered by actresses like Vidya Balan, Rani Mukherjee – very much like Manish Malhotra found support from Raveena Tandon, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Kajol etc. So, both Sabyasachi & Manish Malhotra had admirers in the Indian film farternity. Their happy testimonials helped the designers in a great way to get into the costume design of few important movies.

Brand Sabyasachi found a partner in the Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) in 2021. ABFRL has acquired 51% stake in Sabyasachi Couture that runs the eponymous designer brand, for Rs 398 crore. Its obvious that the major control of the brand Sabyasachi is now with the conglomerate, the partners are happy with this agreement as it frees the creative side of Sabyasachi to focus on the work he enjoys most – designing. “We believe that over the next few years, ethnic wear is going to be an increasingly important category as young and confident Indians rediscover their culture and heritage. The Sabyasachi brand, through its emphasis on excellence in design and craftsmanship has set new benchmarks and captivated the imagination of the sophisticated global Indian consumer," Ashish Dikshit, Managing Director, ABFRL said.

The sprawling store of brand Sabyasachi is embodiment of the high expectations India has from its designers. This store stands testimony of what the future of Indian Fashion Industry beholds.

This is an important time for all fashion designers in India. 

The career of Sabyasachi is inspiring thousands of designers studying in hundreds of fashion institutes across India. Sabyasachi has set a benchmark for each one of them and now the field is wide open for new entrants. Retail giants like Reliance and Aditya Birla have chosen their champions as Sabyasachi, Manish Malhotra & Ritu Kumar. Wonder who will be chosen by the Tata group to counter these gems in the ethnic wear market.

The big business houses are ready to support them if they have enough courage and creativity to take their brands to the next level. The Great Indian Fashion Town is full of fashion designers who will make the future of Indian fashion industry mch brighter and better than today.

Let this party get started.