Too Soon To Style

In fact,it’s this train of thought that led her to designing kidswear. Ironically though,she’s yet to venture into designing for boys. “As a womenswear designer,designing for girls was a lot easier for me. Eventually,I should be looking at designing for boys as well,” says Singhal,who ended her show at the last Lakme Fashion Week with two young girls dressed in outfits from her kidswear range. “That was more of an announcement. I am now looking forward to participating in the first-ever India Kids Fashion Week (IKFW),” she says.

Clearly,children’s fashion in India is on an upswing. And it’s not just the designers,but also the leading international brands — including luxury labels such as Burberry,Fendi and watch brand Toywatch among many others — that are eyeing a slice of the pie. The latest entrant here is Armani Junior,being brought to India by designer Suneet Varma and entrepreneur Mumtaz Siddiqui of Unique Eye Luxury Apparel. “We zeroed in on this arena after much research. The 2,000 sq ft flagship store will open at New Delhi’s DLF Emporio by March 2012 and the brand will bring forth a complete range — from newborn to baby,junior and teen,” says Varma.

Another example would be the Delhi-based store Kidology,which stores the collections by leading Indian designers such as Gaurav Gupta and Gauri and Nainika Karan. Karina Rajpal,Managing Director,Kidology,says that Indian parents today are a lot more fashion conscious. “People are very well-travelled and hence,exposed to a wide variety. This makes them a lot more discerning when it comes to buying outfits for their kids. Kidology was born out of a need to cater to such a segment,” she says. The store is also planning to cement its position with a show at the IKFW.

Mumbai’s multi-brand kids’ designer store Mal is also a case in point. Given the fact that it stocks bandhgalas by Raghavendra Rathore,saris by Masaba Gupta and dresses by Anupama Dayal,Aneeth Arora,Savio Jon and Liz Hurley — all for kids — it would be fair to say that kids’ fashion is no longer a frivolous affair.

All this begs the question as to how important is it for a child to be turned into a fashionista? How ‘cool’ is it to have a 10-year-old walk down the fashion ramp? Manoj Mahla,director,IKFW,points out that it’s just another platform to showcase the latest options available to Indian children. “We are having 24 shows over three days,from January 17 -19. For the shows,we are shortlisting 300 kids in the age group of 4-14 years. We understand that kids,unlike professional models,can’t be walking for back-to-back shows,” says Mahla. “We are conducting auditions in Mumbai,Delhi and Bangalore and the parents are approaching us to let their kids walk the ramp. The shortlisted children would be trained to walk the ramp by professional choreographers,” he notes.

Gauri Karan of Gauri and Nainika says that the duo could easily design for young girls as their signature style has always had a girly feel to it. “It is an extension of what we have been doing for our womenswear line. As far as the argument against fashionably dressed children goes,it’s the parents who make the purchase. Clearly,they can afford to buy the latest designer wear for their kids and they know what they are getting into. At the end of the day,to each his own,” she says.