Winner by Design

Streaked hair, chin stud and loads of attitude. She may seem straight out of the bratpack, but 21-year-old Pooja Munshi can8217;t be taken casually. Winner of this year8217;s Carbon-Shoppers Stop Designer of the Year Contest in Mumbai, Munshi is ready to strike it big.

8220;We always hear of competitions at college,8221; says this final-year fashion design student from NIFT. But the theme of this one 8212; Women of the Next Millennium 8212; got her all charged, so she gave it her best shot. 8220;If women are really the weaker sex, they8217;ll be the first to catch the millennium bug,8221; she quips. 8220;My sketches reflected the best of the past and conveyed what to expect of the future.8221; What stood out was the way she used fusing generally used to support the fabric from behind as surface ornamentation. 8220;It was a great feeling to see my creations on the ramp,8221; says Munshi, gushing about Noyonika Chatterjee and Meghna Reddy catwalking in her outfits.

Munshi8217;s a model, too, and has appeared on the pages of Mantra and Cosmopolitan, but now she8217;s focusing on designing her graduation collection under the guidance of family friend and mentor, Rohit Bal. 8220;He8217;s taught me how one needs to create drama to be a winner,8221; says this La Martinere, Calcutta, alum.

And she8217;s getting ample opportunity to do so. The contest has won her an all-expenses-paid course at the Nottingham School of Design, and the chance to work with Shoppers Stop for a year. 8220;I plan to do my Master8217;s in London, but I know I8217;ll eventually come back to work here,8221; she says, as she views the next millennium with the confidence of a winner.