Generation High

SONIA SARIN:Thirty-one-year-old Sarin has gone from designing clothes for hosts at the IPL parties,Chivas fashion tour and ushers at the Christian Dior fashion show,to showcasing her eponymous pret line at the autumn-winter edition of the WIFW. Delhi-based Sarin,who launched her label in 2006,will be putting her spot of funk in the limited collection,unfurling an array of whites that goes on to ivory,an unconventional colour for Fall. “I know a lot of people don’t wear ivory,but that is what it is about. I am trying to change their perception,” she says. On the runway will be women wearing swirling skirts,thick blazers and capes.

SADAN PANDE: He sounds like the buzziest designer at the moment. He is known more for his styling assignments than his two-year-old label Sylph. Pande has styled cricketers for the Pepsi ad during the IPL season and has co-styled for the movie Dhamaal and Bhindi Bazaar. Besides,he has a range of personal clients who keep him busy. In January and February,Lucknow-born Pande clocked 11 weddings in Kanpur,Ludhiana and Chandigarh. “I have been very busy with the wedding season,” says Pande,minutes after wrapping up a conversation with a buyer. The 33-year-old’s lehengas are priced at R 65,000 upwards,but he says his metier lies in Western wear. “I always wanted to start my own label,but didn’t get enough time and resources. I started by working at a trading house and then freelanced for two years,” says Pande. Now,he is cranking out a limited collection called Quilted Desire,which comprises 12 outfits. There will be brocade jackets,shift dresses in Indian fabric such as silk net,silk satin and brocade.

RAHUL SINGH:They made a debut as Abhi-Rahul at the Delhi Fashion Week in 2009. Post that,and shows at Lakme Fashion week and the WIFW,the Delhi-based sibling designers have now parted ways,because of creative differences. “I focus more on boho-chic,while Abhi likes ethnic and he is showing at the Lakme Fashion Week as an established designer. We have just taken off in two different directions,though we still share the same studio and even take inputs from each other,” says Rahul,the younger of the two. The 26-year-old frizzy-haired designer will be unfurling a light-winter wardrobe with free-flowing jackets blown out into maxi dresses,wrap-front trousers in brown and beige paired with oversized smocks. “The collection will have a resort wear feel,” says Rahul,who retails from Aza,Ogaan,Fuel and Ensemble.

MRINALINI GUPTA:She has a strong style that will speak to more than a few women. The 29-year-old Delhi-based designer has worked with Rajesh Pratap Singh,known for his minimalist style and at Maharishi London,a fashion house known for urban street wear clothes. In her debut show,she will bring in a structured outlook on the runway,honed by her years spent working in advertising agencies. “Of late,I have been reading a lot of graphic novels and want to see architectural lines render an outfit,” says Gupta. So the outfits will include structured skirts,form-fitting sheaths and quilted jackets in comic-strip colours of grey and black.

ANKITA CHAUDHRY:Twenty-five-year-old Chaudhry is no stranger to fashion; she networked with the soclialite pack that thronged the lounge at WIFW last year. The designer put up a stall at the event and has picked up a few tricks of the trade. Charity can definitely bring in a whole new meaning to fashion,Chaudhry knows that well. Little wonder that her line is dedicated to people of Leh,who suffered after a cloudburst triggered floods in 2010. “There are a lot of tribal prints and we have used traditional fabrics. Though the overall look of the outfit is very futuristic,” says Chaudhry.