Considered Indian Fashion's best export

   Considered Indian Fashion's best export, designer Manish Arora talks about why he rarely shows on home turf and celebrities he wishes to dress.
  Fashion designer Manish Arora is perhaps India’s most envied designer at the moment thanks to his impressive resume of dolling up several international celebrities like Katy Perry, Rihanna and Lady Gaga, to name a few.

   The designer, who is not seen too much on desi shores these days and has set shop abroad insists that he will never forget his roots though. "My focus is on Manish Arora the brand and not the designer. I am not deliberately trying to move abroad. I have just been fortunate to have had opportunities that have brought me to this stage of my career, which in my opinion, is just the beginning.I have so much more that I would like to achieve. Having said that, I have never denied my roots nor have I tried to disconnect from them. I am very proud of being an Indian, Delhi is and willalways be my home,” says Manish Arora.
Ask him why he’s decided to only put up a stall at the ongoing Fashion Week in Delhi this time around and not do a full-fledged ramp scorching show and he says that “stalls are where the business takes place! I’ve always had a stall at Delhi’s fashion week. I stopped showcasing here after SS’09 because the timing between Paris Fashion Week and Delhi’s fashion week is too short.

   Moreover, it would not do justice to show the same collection twice in one season. What matters eventually is if your product sells and the fact that I do not showcase anymore has not affected my sales in anyway.”Manish’s clothes are generally slotted in the ‘quirky category’ but the designer says that his designs are anything but that! “Yes, my designs are unique and unconventional but not kitschy or quirky in anyway and I love designing both Indian and Western clothes.

   Having dressed up several fashion icons the world over, does he still have a favourite or a wish-list? “Each of the girls are unique and different in their own way — I just cannot pick one. Katy (Perry) is a good friend and I have dressed her up on more one occasion. But yes, I would love to dress Hollywood’s Chloe Sevigny and Tilda Swinton soon,” he says signing off.