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13.6.10
The Innovator Award goes to Bibhu
Bibhu Mohapatra Takes Home
National Arts Club Young Innovator Award
By Cator Sparks
June 1, 2010 6:15 pm
The New York-based designer earns a coveted award while bringing old school fashion folk out with him. We love a fashion party as much as the next guy but most of the time these New York kids are focused more on Twittering than actually enjoying the party or meeting people. As I have learned from my many nights at The National Arts Club for various occasions, never doth a Twitter pass through these hallowed halls. Why? Because there is zero phone reception in the old Tildon Mansion! Quel relief. Last week we were back at the venerable old club on Gramercy Park to celebrate Bibhu Mohapatra.
When we last caught up with Bibhu we chatted him up mid-studio workday, and we found the man as pleasantly glamorous as the clothes. So when we heard word that he was to be honored by the National Art Club's Fashion Committee as a Young Innovator, we were all on board. A gorgeous Bibhu creation. The place was packed with members, fashion folks (Hi Ruth Finley!) and of course friends of the designer. There was also a slideshow of Bibhu’s collections and mannequins wearing a couple of his stunning evening pieces. Later in the night speeches were made and Bibhu was presented with his award to much fanfare. We ran into the handsome Peter Arnold, President of Cynthia Rowley who was pleased as punch to be there. “I’m a long time friend of Bibhu and his boyfriend Bobby. Bibhu has such great talent and I am excited to see him getting so much exposure as of late.” Mohapatra was equally as thrilled, “Between my new atelier at the CFDA Incubator and this award, it’s been quite an encouraging year.” So how did the award come about? “Well I got a call from Fashion Committee member Max Wilson, and he said they had been following my work for quite some time and would like to give me the Young Innovator award. It came as a total surprise,” Bibhu explained. We finally grabbed Chrishaunda Lee, Chairman of the Committee to ask her about the evening. “I’m so glad to see such a diverse group of people in attendance. We bring all facets of life to these events from educators to collectors and designers. This is old school viral marketing!
By Cator Sparks
June 1, 2010 6:15 pm
The New York-based designer earns a coveted award while bringing old school fashion folk out with him. We love a fashion party as much as the next guy but most of the time these New York kids are focused more on Twittering than actually enjoying the party or meeting people. As I have learned from my many nights at The National Arts Club for various occasions, never doth a Twitter pass through these hallowed halls. Why? Because there is zero phone reception in the old Tildon Mansion! Quel relief. Last week we were back at the venerable old club on Gramercy Park to celebrate Bibhu Mohapatra.
When we last caught up with Bibhu we chatted him up mid-studio workday, and we found the man as pleasantly glamorous as the clothes. So when we heard word that he was to be honored by the National Art Club's Fashion Committee as a Young Innovator, we were all on board. A gorgeous Bibhu creation. The place was packed with members, fashion folks (Hi Ruth Finley!) and of course friends of the designer. There was also a slideshow of Bibhu’s collections and mannequins wearing a couple of his stunning evening pieces. Later in the night speeches were made and Bibhu was presented with his award to much fanfare. We ran into the handsome Peter Arnold, President of Cynthia Rowley who was pleased as punch to be there. “I’m a long time friend of Bibhu and his boyfriend Bobby. Bibhu has such great talent and I am excited to see him getting so much exposure as of late.” Mohapatra was equally as thrilled, “Between my new atelier at the CFDA Incubator and this award, it’s been quite an encouraging year.” So how did the award come about? “Well I got a call from Fashion Committee member Max Wilson, and he said they had been following my work for quite some time and would like to give me the Young Innovator award. It came as a total surprise,” Bibhu explained. We finally grabbed Chrishaunda Lee, Chairman of the Committee to ask her about the evening. “I’m so glad to see such a diverse group of people in attendance. We bring all facets of life to these events from educators to collectors and designers. This is old school viral marketing!
21.5.10
CFDA- Bibhu Mohapatra -Glamour.com
www.glamour.com
The Garment District Is Abuzz With Young Talent: Inside The CFDA Fashion Incubator
The New York fashion world has always distinguished itself from its Paris and Milan counterparts by nurturing young talent and focusing on the Next Big Things--and now, with the introduction of the CFDA Fashion Incubator, it has, according to jewelry designer Waris Ahluwalia, "put its money where its mouth is."
Designer, Bibhu Mohapatra
Back in October, Mayor Bloomberg and the CFDA announced that the new incubator program would give below-market-price studio space to emerging designers in the garment district (in addition to mentoring and "educational support") to help support the businesses of new talent in what the city deems and important industry. Just one month ago, the young designers (Alice Ritter; Waris Ahluwalia from House of Waris; Prabal Gurung; Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne of Public School; Bibhu Mohapatra; Grant Krajecki of Grey Ant; Rachel Dooley of Gemma Redux; Joel Diaz from Jolibe; Sang A Im-Propp of Sang A; Justin Giunta from Subversive Jewelry; Yuvi Alpert and Danna Kobo from Ruby Kobo, and Tom Scott.) moved in to their new spaces, and yesterday they invited reporters, bloggers, and editors to an open house to come check out the scene. The spaces are sparkling new, with exposed brick in each studio, polished concrete floors, and that shiny model-home smell that makes anything seem possible.
Alice Ritter recently made the move from her Brooklyn home studio to her shiny new midtown digs, and she said she's already feeling a major influence of being surrounded by so much talent in the heart of the city's fashion center. "The best part, by far," Alice told me, "is being here with my fellow incubator designers. It's actually intimidating. It makes me want to wake up in the morning and work harder. You know, it's not philanthropy here. They are supporting us in hopes that we will contribute back to the fashion community."
For Waris Ahluwalia, being part of the incubator program means he finally has a proper studio space in New York for his jewelry line, House of Waris. "My studio is usually in Rome, in Jaipur, in Bangkok, wherever I'm creating," he told me. "So its great to finally have a solid base of operations here in New York. The CFDA and the city have really put its money where its mouth is--they're giving us the support, the resources, it is just a great opportunity."
Prabal Gurung has already had a year filled with exciting opportunities--his recent CFDA nomination anddressing Michelle Obama twice among them--but moving into the incubator space means he can finally stretch his wings and put down some roots at the same time. "I was in my East Village studio before, which is a quarter the size of this space, and it was a live/work space," Prabal says. "Now, I just feel much more in touch with the fashion world. It's very encouraging, and to be around here, it's good energy and i feel more nurtured by the industry. Everything in my line is made in New York, and in all honesty, I'm not trying to be righteous about it but it's also about giving back to the industry that has given so much to me. It's a give and take situation. I feel like it's also important for me to give back and pave the way for more young designers. I want to set an example for the next batch of designers. I'm not just responsible to myself and my dreams and my aspirations--the industry believes in me, and I want to give back. And that can only, truly happen in new york. Nowhere else."
11.5.10
22.4.10
Charriol art Opening
One of my favorite things to do is to go to the art openings of friends.
There is nothing more satisfying than to see fresh new wonderful work on the walls and feel the excitement of the artist's friends all around.
Tonight was one such evening..
Note the beautiful painting behind Miss. Domingo and me.
More to come I hope......
16.4.10
Bergdorf Goodman Introduces Bibhu Mohapatra
Bibhu Mohapatra
Trunk Show
eveningwear
4th Floor
Bergdorf Goodman
April 19th & 20th
10:00 am to 5:00 pm
7.4.10
Lovely article by Eric Wilson in the New York Times
Garment District Hothouse
By ERIC WILSON
“I’M going to have fun walking down the hall yelling, ‘Bibhu! Bibhu!’ ” said Waris Ahluwalia, the designer of the jewelry collection House of Waris, on his first day in his new office at 209 West 38th Street in the heart of the garment district last Tuesday. Bibhu Mohapatra, an evening-wear designer, had moved into a space down the hall a week earlier, from where he could wave hello. “Bibhu!” This has the potential to get annoying.
Their new offices, along with those of 10 other designers, are part of an initiative to help emerging fashion businesses grow in New York City — but that also seems determined to test the adage about what proximity breeds. It is a called a “fashion business incubator,” offering below-market rents (starting at $1,500 a month) and mentoring to a group selected by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. And it looks much like a shopping mall, with glass-fronted showrooms on either side of a grand aisle, where designers can create or sell or promote their collections, and retailers can visit all of them conveniently.
But as an experiment, the most intriguing results may lie in how they relate to the neighborhood, which has been declining as a center of fashion manufacturing for decades. Much of the current debate between landlords and designers about saving the district relates to the perceived importance of being close to their suppliers.
“The amount of time we save, even if it’s running out for a zipper, is incredible,” said Mr. Mohapatra, who had wanted to move his showroom from the Upper West Side, but found rents in the range of $4,500 for similar spaces. Some of the other participating designers said that they, too, were drawn to the convenience.
Prabal Gurung, who works in a shoebox apartment downtown, used to show his clothes at the home of his better-to-do publicist, but she wanted her living room back, thank you. Joel Diaz and Christina LaPens, the couple behind Jolibe, shared a live-work space nearby, but two young children made that situation a nightmare.
Mr. Ahluwalia said he, too, used to work far, far away, “up in the mountains, upstate.” He was in a town house on East 81st Street.
4.4.10
Tropical Spring from Bibhu
Tropical Spring from Bibhu
It may be still too early to break out the strappy sandals (at least
without chunky socks, anyway), but I’m dreaming of warmer weather right now. Till I can get myself to Maui later this year, I’ll satiate my tropical yearnings by planning my Kaanapali look now. Like this dress from Indian American designer Bibhu Mohapatra. High fashion meets oceanside wedding.
10.3.10
"Fashion Feels Fur’s Warm Embrace" NYT
Fashion Feels Fur’s Warm Embrace
By ERIC WILSON
LAST month, Johnny Weir, the United States figure skater, switched one of his costumes for the Vancouver Olympics after he said he received threats from anti-fur activists for accessorizing his already colorful wardrobe with just a touch of white fox. At almost the same moment, fashion designers in New York were showing fall collections with so much fur that they seemed to collectively stick a thumb in the eye of political correctness.
Did the designers forget that wearing fur is fraught with controversy? Or did they simply stop caring?
There were fancy fox cuffs (Oscar de la Renta), wild-looking coyote capes (Michael Kors), bizarrely colorful mink jackets (Chris Benz, Peter Som), knitted furs (Proenza Schouler, Diane Von Furstenberg) and capes trimmed with raccoon tails (for men, courtesy of Thom Browne). The following week, the runways of Milanwere perhaps even hairier, from the fur-collared coats at Prada to the fox mukluks at D & G.
For the first time in more than two decades, more designers are using fur than not. Almost two thirds of those in New York are, based on a review of more than 130 collections that were shown on Style.com last month, which is a surprising development during a recession. And it didn’t just happen because of some idea that was floating around in the collective designer ether.
Rather, fur became a trend because of a marketing campaign.
Over the last 10 years, furriers have aggressively courted designers, especially young ones, to embrace fur by giving them free samples and approaching them through trade groups — sometimes when they are still in college. Last summer, for example, the designers Alexander Wang and Haider Ackermann, plus Alexa Adams and Flora Gill of Ohne Titel were flown to Copenhagen for weeklong visits to the design studios of Saga Furs, a marketing company that represents 3,000 fur breeders in Finland and Norway. Saga Furs regularly sponsors such design junkets. The designers were given carte blanche to use fur with state-of-the-art techniques.
Mr. Wang and the Ohne Titel designers ended up including fur in their fall collections. Mr. Ackermann, in Paris, included fur scarves and a narrow wool jacket with ribbons of fur protruding from its collar.
“We were seeing all of these new possibilities in which you can use fur in a very light way,” Ms. Adams said. “Fur gives a richness in texture. It’s like discovering something new that also has an interesting history.”
Several young designers echoed that sentiment, saying they were less interested in fur as a luxury statement or an act of defiance than as a novel design. Mr. Wang said he had not intended to use fur in his collection but decided to after seeing so many plush fabrics that resembled fur. “The point was to create that rich, luscious feel while blending the lines between what was real and what was fake,” he said.
In Denmark, Ms. Adams said, she learned of a technique of sewing extremely thin, evenly spaced strips of fox onto a layer of silk, creating the look of a fox coat with a third of the weight and expense. For their show, she and Ms. Gill showed a version in army green. Carine Roitfeld, the editor of French Vogue, admired it, so the designers sent the sample, which would cost $10,400 in a store, to her hotel for her to wear throughout Fashion Week. Ms. Roitfeld was photographed so often in the coat that they decided she could keep it. After all, their cost to make it was nothing.
Much like lobbying groups in Washington, various cooperatives representing breeders, farmers and auction houses around the world solicit designers to use their furs. Saga, one of the biggest cooperatives, provided the furs used this season by the New York labels Cushnie et Ochs, Thakoon, Brian Reyes, Wayne, Derek Lam, Proenza Schouler and Richard Chai, in addition to Ohne Titel and Alexander Wang.
Another cooperative, the North American Fur Auctions (NAFA) in Seattle, gave furs to the newcomers Bibhu Mohapatra and Prabal Gurung and worked with marquee designers who make separate fur collections, including Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta and Michael Kors.
“We’ll give them furs to make three, four, five, even six different garments,” said Steve Gold, a marketing director for the North American group, which represents farmers in Canada and the United States. “The quid pro quo is simply that they mention our name to the press.”
Neither marketing group would disclose its budget, but Mr. Gold said it was typical to spend “hundreds of thousands of dollars” each year.
“We want to make sure fur is on the pages of magazines around the world,” he said. “The way to do that is to facilitate the use of fur by designers.”
Their success has infuriated anti-fur activists like Dan Mathews, the senior vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who described the fur marketing as “a smoke and mirrors campaign, where they give designers money and free fur to accessorize the runway, even though that stuff never ends up in shops.”
Several of those designers are too young to remember the vicious battles over fur in the 1980s and ’90s, when a PETA member tossed a dead raccoon onto the plate of Anna Wintour while she was dining at the Four Seasons; another tossed a tofu cream pie in Mr. de la Renta’s face. But some remain sheepish on the subject. Thakoon Panichgul, for example, showed a coat in his fall collection with strips of fox bursting from the sleeves, but he declined to be interviewed for this article because of the controversy.
Others said they felt confident using fur after examining the chain of production and finding it humane.
“You see so much leather and shearling being used this season, and no one is complaining about that,” Ms. Adams said. “I don’t see the difference between using shearling and using fur.”
Saga sponsors courses and competitions at design schools, including at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons the New School for Design (as does PETA).
“We bring them knowledge about fur early in the design process,” said Charles Ross, the director of international activities for Saga.
That is how Irina Shabayeva, the winner of the sixth season of “Project Runway,” was introduced to fur. In 2003, while a student at Parsons, Ms. Shabayeva won a fur design contest sponsored by Saga. The prize was a trip to Scandinavia. After Ms. Shabayeva started her own collection, Saga introduced her to Funtastic Furs, a company that makes furs for designers like Peter Som and Catherine Malandrino.
“They were kind enough to sew up a few pieces for me,” Ms. Shabayeva said. Actually, her fall collection looked as if it had been conceived in a taxidermist’s studio. The opening look was a dress made of the long plumes of a pheasant.
The sales of fur in the United States, and its appearance on the runways, fell in the 1980s as a result of the aggressive protests. But attitudes began to change, and fur began to make a slow comeback, from sales under $1 billion in this country in the early ’90s to $1.8 billion in 2006, according to figures released by the Fur Information Council of America. Naomi Campbell, who once posed for PETA, now has a fur coat named after her at Dennis Basso.
But many of those gains were erased in the last three years, following an unusually warm winter in 2007, and then the recession. There was little fur on the runways in 2009, as designers sought to rein in prices.
Now, as fur is becoming trendy, skin prices at auction have shot up in response to increased demand; the price of a male mink pelt approaches $100 in Finland, up 40 percent over last year. A silver fox pelt is now $200, up 20 percent.
That raises questions about how good this trend will be for the designers, should stores buy their furs. Most have little experience in the fur market, and they will have to pay for the specialized production of their designs, which is far more expensive than ready-to-wear made from fabric. And if their fur pieces don’t sell next fall, they will be stuck with a lot of expensive coats.
“That’s a big question mark,” said Brian Reyes, whose show included several pieces made for him by Funtastic Furs. “The fur industry has different ways of buying or selling. Who buys it? Where does fur sell well? It’s all a new experience.”
In his showroom sits a big cobalt blue fox coat — so big, Mr. Reyes said, it could stand up on its own. The price was $6,750. Though he showed several fur coats, he does not expect to sell many this year, as he is just beginning to test the market and wants to be cautious.
But other designers are already taking orders. Ohne Titel sold more than 15 shearling and fox vests, priced under $2,000, in the days after its show. Derek Lam, who has worked with Saga for several years, has found fur designs to be lucrative. From his pre-fall collection in 2008, Mr. Lam sold 148 short riding jackets trimmed with mink, which cost $1,990. Now Mr. Lam offers furs priced from $4,500 to $30,000.
“If you sell two,” said Jan-Hendrik Schlottmann, the chief executive of the brand, “you are doing really well.”
Of the fox coat worn by Ms. Roitfeld, even without the sample, Ohne Titel already has orders from stores for 10.
7.3.10
Bibhu In Indian Express, Sunday edition
What they don’t teach you at Sambalpur University
Paromita-Chakrabarti
Indian Express
Posted online: Saturday , Mar 06, 2010 at 1108 hrs
Rourkela, Amritsar and Kathmandu. Demi Moore, Sienna Miller and Cate Blanchett. What could possibly link the two sets? Three young men, two from India and one from Nepal, whose high fashion/accessory designs, competing in the world’s toughest and richest markets, have Hollywood A-listers gushing. They add another beautifully-cut dimension to the subcontinent's mufossil-to-Manhattan narrative
Anna Wintour. Rachel Weisz. Zoe Saldana. That’s a power-packed front row for any fashion week. And if they turn up at a show by a new name in global fashion, you better take notice. And that explains the frenzy over the work of 30-something Prabal Gurung from Kathmandu, Nepal. His runway show at Bryant Park at the New York Fashion Week a fortnight ago was attended by the crème of the industry. The clothes— colour-blocked jackets, cocktail dresses with pouff shoulders, gowns with low-slung backs and architectural silhouettes—spoke of a decadent attitude to fashion, refreshing at a time when the economic meltdown had made opulence a bad word. It won him rave reviews from the international media and adoring followers: Demi Moore tweeted about the “wonderful young designer to look out for”, while Weisz and Saldana have been spotted in his designs. Gurung, with his Keanu Reaves-like good looks and classic ensembles reminiscent of YSL, is getting used to the accolades coming his way since his debut in February last year.So is Bibhu Mohapatra, another young man in his 30s, whose journey from Rourkela in Orissa to Manhattan in New York is as interesting as his ensembles. Sienna Miller and Angelina Jolie are among his regular clients. In the one year since he launched his independent label, he has been selected for the CFDA (The Council of Fashion Designers of America) Fashion Incubator project aimed at grooming talented debutants, put out two collections that have won great reviews, and started retailing from stores like Dighton Rhode. Mohapatra, who did an almost decade-long stint at acclaimed design house J. Mendel, will have you know that the identity of his designs is not just in who wears them, but on their stylistic ingenuity. “My designs are always a study in opposites: masculine and feminine, tailored and drapey, hard and soft, and modern shapes made with traditional couture dress-making techniques,” he says.
The subcontinent has never had it this good since Naeem Khan moved out of his posh south Mumbai family business to the US and became a red-carpet favourite with Hollywood stars. Now, a handful of boys from the region, some from small towns in India, are living out their dreams as global citizens, dressing up celebrities and taking their native craftsmanship to a different pitch.
If Gurung and Mohapatra are fashion's newest pin-up boys, there’s also 35-year-old Amritsar-born-Brooklyn-raised actor-jeweller Waris Ahluwalia with his brand, House of Waris, which caters to the likes of Cate Blanchett. The production houses are spread over Jaipur, Rome, New York, even in places in Thailand and Turkey, and the products are available at swanky stores like Barney's in New York and Colette in Paris. “I have no formal training in design. Jewellery was one among the many creative projects I dabbled in, in my twenties. It was the one that stayed on with me,” he says.
The beginning for all three was far from conventional. Mohapatra’s first exercise in design was to make dresses for his sisters. “My father, an engineer, worked in a steel plant, before starting his own manufacturing unit. I was 13 when my mother taught me how to sew. I developed a strong flair for fashion, but it was not a career option at that point of time, since there were so few opportunities," he says. After graduating from Sambalpur University, he did his Masters in Economics in Utah. “During those two years, I started to prepare for my application to the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. In 1998, I moved to New York,” he says. Even before he finished his course, Mohapatra had won an internship with the design house of Halston. “Two weeks in to the internship, I was offered a position of an assistant designer. Since I was in class all day, I worked from 5 pm-11 pm and on weekends. It was a steep learning curve. I was exposed to every facet of fashion, including design, construction and business,” he says.
If Orissa was the outback of Indian fashion, in Nepal, the road map to haute couture is still largely uncharted. Yet one of Gurung’s earliest recollections are of the long hours he spent at his mother’s clothing boutique in Kathmandu, or simply sketching by himself in the 1990s. “Ever since I could remember, I was drawn to fashion. I have the fondest memories of helping my mother out at her boutique in any way that I could. My family has always been supportive, but choosing fashion as a career was foreign to them and to my culture, so they were a bit unclear as to what path I was to take,” says Gurung. Even today, well-heeled fashionistas from Nepali society might baulk at the prices of his ensembles at Bloomingdales, pegged at around $ 400 for a top to $ 4,000 for a dress on an average.
The obvious option was to try his luck in India at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). “It was in Delhi that my career truly began. My studies at NIFT laid the groundwork for my understanding of fashion and allowed me to explore so many realms of the industry,” he says. His craftsmanship was impressive, so much so that when he applied for internship with maverick designer Manish Arora, the designer offered him a job instead.
But New York was a growing obsession and Gurung decided to try his luck despite the momentum he had gained in India. He joined the prestigious Parson’s in 1999, graduated with honours and followed it up with a stint at Cynthia Rowley’s. The next stop was the equally well-known Bill Blass Design Studio. “I had always been intrigued by NYC, even though I had never been to the United States at that time. I knew that was where I would find opportunities that were in keeping with my long-term goals,” he says. Blass proved to be everything that he had hoped for: “The seamstresses had been there for years, and had an old-school approach to the construction of each garment”. When he launched his own label last year after Bill Blass shut down, Gurung knew he had learnt the ropes well.
Flitting between his workshop in Jaipur and his offices in Rome, New York and in Paris, Ahluwalia says jewellery was meant to happen to him. Just like acting did, when friend Wes Anderson roped him in to act in his first movie, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. There have been other roles in Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited and Spike Lee’s The Inside Man, and in upcoming productions like Jordan Galland’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead and an Italian movie, I’o Sono L’amore with Tilda Swanton. It was in Rome, where he was shooting for a movie that he came in touch with some master jewellers. He stayed back to learn the craft from them. His next stop was Jaipur—now almost a second home to him because of his workshop there—to hone his skills. “I began with an idea: to find the best artisans in the world and preserve the world of hand craftsmanship, not as museum relics, but as a way of life,” he says. His creations come with price tags that range from $3,000 to $7,000, and some even run up to as much as $ 1,50,000, but the demand has been rising, taking his brand around the globe. “I don’t fit in anywhere. It’s not my purpose in life to fit in. I do what makes me happy, how the world reacts is not in my hands,” he says.
His works, though, have a strong resonance of his roots—rich meenakari work is married to large emeralds, there’s a hint of Mughal grandeur in the kundan work, carved with exquisite stones. “In the last five years, I have sat with my craftsmen in Jaipur for six months a year, surrounding myself with skilled craftsmen. I watched and asked questions,” he says.
It’s difficult to ignore the influences of the sub-continent in the works of all three. “Growing up in India, particularly in Orissa, I was constantly inspired by the colours, the arts and the crafts. My fashion education and career have been in the West, but my eastern heritage has always been with me, and I believe it has always given me an edge,” says Mohapatra, who recently played himself in Leena Yadav’s movie Teen Patti. For Gurung, his association with Arora and experiences in the country have been invaluable. “Studying under the innovative and remarkably talented Manish undoubtedly influenced my design process. His incredible hand-beading and approach to embroidery in particular are techniques that will always be factored in my designs,” he says.
All three say they would like to extend their brand to the country which has nurtured their dreams. Mohapatra is in the process of developing his line into a full collection with accessories and fragrances for the market in Europe and the US. For India, he has more concrete plans up his sleeves. “I am looking for an organization that will help me open a few select retail locations in key cities in India,” he says. “When India is ready for me, she will let me know,” says Ahluwalia.
Anna Wintour. Rachel Weisz. Zoe Saldana. That’s a power-packed front row for any fashion week. And if they turn up at a show by a new name in global fashion, you better take notice. And that explains the frenzy over the work of 30-something Prabal Gurung from Kathmandu, Nepal. His runway show at Bryant Park at the New York Fashion Week a fortnight ago was attended by the crème of the industry. The clothes— colour-blocked jackets, cocktail dresses with pouff shoulders, gowns with low-slung backs and architectural silhouettes—spoke of a decadent attitude to fashion, refreshing at a time when the economic meltdown had made opulence a bad word. It won him rave reviews from the international media and adoring followers: Demi Moore tweeted about the “wonderful young designer to look out for”, while Weisz and Saldana have been spotted in his designs. Gurung, with his Keanu Reaves-like good looks and classic ensembles reminiscent of YSL, is getting used to the accolades coming his way since his debut in February last year.So is Bibhu Mohapatra, another young man in his 30s, whose journey from Rourkela in Orissa to Manhattan in New York is as interesting as his ensembles. Sienna Miller and Angelina Jolie are among his regular clients. In the one year since he launched his independent label, he has been selected for the CFDA (The Council of Fashion Designers of America) Fashion Incubator project aimed at grooming talented debutants, put out two collections that have won great reviews, and started retailing from stores like Dighton Rhode. Mohapatra, who did an almost decade-long stint at acclaimed design house J. Mendel, will have you know that the identity of his designs is not just in who wears them, but on their stylistic ingenuity. “My designs are always a study in opposites: masculine and feminine, tailored and drapey, hard and soft, and modern shapes made with traditional couture dress-making techniques,” he says.
The subcontinent has never had it this good since Naeem Khan moved out of his posh south Mumbai family business to the US and became a red-carpet favourite with Hollywood stars. Now, a handful of boys from the region, some from small towns in India, are living out their dreams as global citizens, dressing up celebrities and taking their native craftsmanship to a different pitch.
If Gurung and Mohapatra are fashion's newest pin-up boys, there’s also 35-year-old Amritsar-born-Brooklyn-raised actor-jeweller Waris Ahluwalia with his brand, House of Waris, which caters to the likes of Cate Blanchett. The production houses are spread over Jaipur, Rome, New York, even in places in Thailand and Turkey, and the products are available at swanky stores like Barney's in New York and Colette in Paris. “I have no formal training in design. Jewellery was one among the many creative projects I dabbled in, in my twenties. It was the one that stayed on with me,” he says.
The beginning for all three was far from conventional. Mohapatra’s first exercise in design was to make dresses for his sisters. “My father, an engineer, worked in a steel plant, before starting his own manufacturing unit. I was 13 when my mother taught me how to sew. I developed a strong flair for fashion, but it was not a career option at that point of time, since there were so few opportunities," he says. After graduating from Sambalpur University, he did his Masters in Economics in Utah. “During those two years, I started to prepare for my application to the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. In 1998, I moved to New York,” he says. Even before he finished his course, Mohapatra had won an internship with the design house of Halston. “Two weeks in to the internship, I was offered a position of an assistant designer. Since I was in class all day, I worked from 5 pm-11 pm and on weekends. It was a steep learning curve. I was exposed to every facet of fashion, including design, construction and business,” he says.
If Orissa was the outback of Indian fashion, in Nepal, the road map to haute couture is still largely uncharted. Yet one of Gurung’s earliest recollections are of the long hours he spent at his mother’s clothing boutique in Kathmandu, or simply sketching by himself in the 1990s. “Ever since I could remember, I was drawn to fashion. I have the fondest memories of helping my mother out at her boutique in any way that I could. My family has always been supportive, but choosing fashion as a career was foreign to them and to my culture, so they were a bit unclear as to what path I was to take,” says Gurung. Even today, well-heeled fashionistas from Nepali society might baulk at the prices of his ensembles at Bloomingdales, pegged at around $ 400 for a top to $ 4,000 for a dress on an average.
The obvious option was to try his luck in India at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). “It was in Delhi that my career truly began. My studies at NIFT laid the groundwork for my understanding of fashion and allowed me to explore so many realms of the industry,” he says. His craftsmanship was impressive, so much so that when he applied for internship with maverick designer Manish Arora, the designer offered him a job instead.
But New York was a growing obsession and Gurung decided to try his luck despite the momentum he had gained in India. He joined the prestigious Parson’s in 1999, graduated with honours and followed it up with a stint at Cynthia Rowley’s. The next stop was the equally well-known Bill Blass Design Studio. “I had always been intrigued by NYC, even though I had never been to the United States at that time. I knew that was where I would find opportunities that were in keeping with my long-term goals,” he says. Blass proved to be everything that he had hoped for: “The seamstresses had been there for years, and had an old-school approach to the construction of each garment”. When he launched his own label last year after Bill Blass shut down, Gurung knew he had learnt the ropes well.
Flitting between his workshop in Jaipur and his offices in Rome, New York and in Paris, Ahluwalia says jewellery was meant to happen to him. Just like acting did, when friend Wes Anderson roped him in to act in his first movie, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. There have been other roles in Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited and Spike Lee’s The Inside Man, and in upcoming productions like Jordan Galland’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead and an Italian movie, I’o Sono L’amore with Tilda Swanton. It was in Rome, where he was shooting for a movie that he came in touch with some master jewellers. He stayed back to learn the craft from them. His next stop was Jaipur—now almost a second home to him because of his workshop there—to hone his skills. “I began with an idea: to find the best artisans in the world and preserve the world of hand craftsmanship, not as museum relics, but as a way of life,” he says. His creations come with price tags that range from $3,000 to $7,000, and some even run up to as much as $ 1,50,000, but the demand has been rising, taking his brand around the globe. “I don’t fit in anywhere. It’s not my purpose in life to fit in. I do what makes me happy, how the world reacts is not in my hands,” he says.
His works, though, have a strong resonance of his roots—rich meenakari work is married to large emeralds, there’s a hint of Mughal grandeur in the kundan work, carved with exquisite stones. “In the last five years, I have sat with my craftsmen in Jaipur for six months a year, surrounding myself with skilled craftsmen. I watched and asked questions,” he says.
It’s difficult to ignore the influences of the sub-continent in the works of all three. “Growing up in India, particularly in Orissa, I was constantly inspired by the colours, the arts and the crafts. My fashion education and career have been in the West, but my eastern heritage has always been with me, and I believe it has always given me an edge,” says Mohapatra, who recently played himself in Leena Yadav’s movie Teen Patti. For Gurung, his association with Arora and experiences in the country have been invaluable. “Studying under the innovative and remarkably talented Manish undoubtedly influenced my design process. His incredible hand-beading and approach to embroidery in particular are techniques that will always be factored in my designs,” he says.
All three say they would like to extend their brand to the country which has nurtured their dreams. Mohapatra is in the process of developing his line into a full collection with accessories and fragrances for the market in Europe and the US. For India, he has more concrete plans up his sleeves. “I am looking for an organization that will help me open a few select retail locations in key cities in India,” he says. “When India is ready for me, she will let me know,” says Ahluwalia.
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