Aki Narula:aiming the skies

A commerce graduate from St. Xavier’s college Kolkata , the famous fashion designer started his label AKI in the year 1996. He worked as the management trainee in Lintas for ten months. He was always interested in the fine nuances of life say apparel, accessory, food or interiors. He always had the passion for adding his inputs in the costumes of concerts, college plays and Xavostav. The clothes that his mothers bought during his schools days were decorated with Aki’s touch. In 1994 he won the fashion designer award introduced by Damania Airlines in five metros.

His first collection of men’s kurta pyajamas for the Khazana store from Taj Bengal was sold in two days. He had his first show with ‘Melange’, Mumbai at Opera House on women’s wear collection. The AKI label was retailed from premier designs salons of the country Ensemble, Melange, Camelot, Ogaan etc in January 1997. In Delhi where he moved in August of 1997 and set up his personal workshop. The 2000 participation in Lakme India Fashion Week earned him tremendous appreciation. Aki’s for the first designed costumes for a film- ‘Monsoon Wedding’ proved to be his breakthrough. He was assigned to design for ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. Aki did the opening sequence for Miss India 2002; he had also won LIFW 2001. In the film ‘Dubai Return’ which starred Irfan Khan, Aki was chosen to design the costumes. He has even designed for ‘Kyun ho gaya na’ which starred Aishwarya rai and Vivek Oberoi and is directed by Sameer Karnik.

Sabyasachi making waves

The 28-year-old fashion designer, Sabyasachi Mukherjee has had it all from junk jewelry selling in Kolkata’s roadside shops to displaying his Milan Fashion Week collection in New Delhi. A NIFT summer graduate of 1999, he has three awards in his bag- The Best Design collection, the Ritu Kumar award for excellence in design and the Viewers Choice award. At the LIFW, in 2002 he made his debut where he earned accolades for his collection from the national and international press. Ever since he joined the industry of fashion ,he has been making waves.

The ‘Times of India- British Council’s most outstanding designer of India’ award earned Sabyasachi Mukherjee an internship in London. The philosophy of his design is clear and simple-‘personalized imperfection of the human hand’. The lifelong inspiration of this renowned designer has been deserts, gypsies, prostitutes and antique textiles. This fashion designer believes that the extension of one’s intellect is clothes.

He began his career as a costume designer at Bollywood, and in 2007 he has designed for the leading ladies of ‘Laaga Chunari Mein Daag’. This Kolkata designer’s unusual fabric, ‘fusion’ of style, ‘patch’ works give it an ‘An International styling with an Indian soul’. He was voted as one of the ten influential people by Asia Inc. a Singapore based business magazine where Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra and Sabeer Bhatia are included. The previewing of his Spring/Summer 2008 collection displayed in New York IMG Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week earned him lots of appreciation.