Design Drama

With his shows in Paris and Delhi keeping him busy,it’s not often that one gets to see maverick designer Manish Arora in Mumbai. But when he does drop in,the city takes notice. On Wednesday evening,the designer collaborated with London-based hairstylist and Toni&Guy’s global hair ambassador,Mark Hampton. The two worked together on crafting three distinct looks at the brand’s launch — casual,classic and glamorous. Playing muse to the duo were Anusha Dandekar,Soha Ali Khan and Malaika Arora Khan for the looks respectively. While Dandekar’s acid washed jacket,printed blouse and sequinned skirt had a casual vibe to it,Soha was in a scarlet princess dress by Arora. Malaika,on the other hand,wore a glamorous black baroque dress. Explaining why he chose to take on this project,Arora said,“Mark and I were on the same page,so the synergy helped.” It took Arora three months to create the three outfits. This is the first time he has designed clothes for a stage performance. Does it hint at an eagerness to take on costume designing projects? “If I get an opportunity to do justice to my creations,I would do it. I have had many offers from Bollywood,but filmmakers here don’t understand clothes and I can’t work in such a set-up,” he says.