They’ll dress Bond’s M on Oscar night

MUMBAI, MARCH 24: This Monday, India will go to the Oscars for the second time, and not just in the five nominations that Manoj Night' Sh...

MUMBAI, MARCH 24: This Monday, India will go to the Oscars for the second time, and not just in the five nominations that Manoj Night’ Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense has got. For the second year running, Mumbai-based designers Sandeep Khosla and Abu Jani will be dressing the women who matter. And who matters more than Dame Judi M’ Dench, the only woman in James Bond’s life who is impervious to his flirtatious charms?

Dame Judi, who wore a cream-coloured Abu-Sandeep creation when she received her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for a five-minute appearance as Queen Elizabeth in John Madden’s Shakespeare in Love, will be wearing another original by the duo when she gives away the award for Best Supporting Actor (it may be received by the equally delicious Jude Law for The Talented Mr Ripley). But she’s not the only one. Lindy Hemmings, who has been nominated for Best Costume Designer for her work in Mike Leigh’s grand biopic on Gilbert and Sullivan Topsy-Turvy, is also wearing an Abu-Sandeep design. And why not? After all, it was she who discovered them while walking down London’s Beauchamp Place, where the two retail their designs at Also.

Hemmings was so impressed with their designs that she used some Abu-Sandeep creations to dress the French actress Sophie Marceau, James Bond’s unreliable love interest, in The World Is Not Enough.

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Abu and Sandeep only found that they would be designing clothes for both Hemmings and Dame Judi when the nominations were announced. “Dame Judi has picked up a chikan outfit. She loves our clothes and said she wanted to wear something different instead of the western couture that most others will be donning,” says Jani. She has picked up a tunic with a chemise inside it, that has matching trousers and a scarf. “It was picked off the rack, but it was sleeveless so it come back to us as she wanted sleeves added.”

Hemmings’ outfit is a full beaded gown with thread work on it. For Jani it is a pleasure to have a costume designer wear their clothes. “The work on the gown is based on very traditional Indian embroidery,” adds Khosla. For the two, working on the Oscar clothes has been particularly challenging as it has to be ready to be delivered in two weeks. “But both these women have their own classic style and know what they want. So it makes life easier,” says Jani. Last year, the two received rave press reviews from all over the world and their clientele includes Dame Maggie Smith and Princess Michael of Kent.

Their designs have been featured in various style and society magazines including Hello. So, it is not surprising to hear that America is next on their agenda. The two are planning to retail their clothes in Los Angeles, Palm Beach and New York. Probably that’s when we’ll see them camping out in Beverly Hills with Carolina Herrera and Pamela Denis, waiting to woo the A-list before Oscar night.