Parisian chic, a little Indian flavour

Of the quartet of international fashion weeks New York, London, Milan and Paris, the French capital8217;s is known to be the most important. It8217;s well known in inner circles that London is where you begin, New York is where you look for money, Milan is where you look for production facilities and Paris is where you know you8217;ve made it.

In the Eighties, two Japanese designers 8212; Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo 8212; stirred European fashion. The Nineties saw a Belgian invasion, with Dries van Noten and Ann Demuelemeester stoke Parisian style.

The Indian couple, incidentally best friends, are being likened to their predecessors.

8220;The French and Indians both idolise their designers,8221; says Didier Grumbach, president, Federation Francaise de la Couture, before the shows had begun. 8220;We like our fashion to be different, emotional, surprising and even controversial. And both these shows will have full houses.8221;

He is right.

Singh Singh8217;s show, a skip from the chic Marais district, is presented in a white-washed warehouse where Helmut Lang used to display his iconic photographs.

Singh has flown in 30 kilos of roses from India, petals of which were laid out like a carpet filling the room with a sweet scent.

Bollywood filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali is here, as the designer is making costumes for his Indo-French opera Padmavati. So is Hilary Alexander of the Telegraph, UK, one of the more revered fashion critics of the world, Ramesh Nair, the NIFT graduate who is now chief designer at Hermes, and big buyers, like Armand Hadadi of L8217;Eclair.

Singh8217;s black-based line is almost ghostly, with jackets whose hoods resemble a ghungat, and immaculate pin-tuck patterns. 8220;I especially loved the leather detailing,8221; says Alexander. 8220;This is what the world wants to see,8221; adds Hadadi.

8220;It took me three years to prepare to show in Paris,8221; Singh said after his show.

To participate here costs anywhere between Rs 45 lakh and Rs 90 lakh. Funds have been put together by the Fashion Design Council of India, the Commerce Ministry8217;s Market Access Initiative Scheme, and individual sponsors.

But Singh assures he will present his collection here for the next few seasons. 8220;Every important store comes to Paris.8221;

Arora is almost a veteran, although it8217;s only his second season here, he has shown in London four times. 8220;But now I8217;m in Paris to stay,8221; he says. Arora has the internationally acclaimed installation artist, Subodh Gupta, do a backdrop of stainless steel kitchen stands for his show, at the Rue du Faubourg St Martin.

Many French women are here wearing his clothes, a florescent polka-dot shirt here and a mirrored skirt there. His warrior theme show, comprising elements from the Samurai and even Disney, is an assault on the senses, just the way the French like it.

When he comes out for his bow, women in the back row are almost standing on their seats, trying to get a picture of him.