Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 8 (IANS) Internationally known designer Manish Arora says he doesn’t follow Indian fashion events, wants to focus on his global shows and has no plan to revive his relationship with French fashion house Paco Rabanne in the near future.

“I haven’t seen fashion weeks in India. I am not here for the last four to five fashion weeks,” Arora told IANS, adding, “I don’t know what’s happening here. I haven’t been in India because of the timings.”

“I finished 10 shows in Paris and four in London this year and hopefully there is more in the pipeline. I am already working on my next Paris show in September,” he added.

An Indian designer not following Indian fashion week - isn’t that strange?

“I am not just an Indian designer, I am a designer with a global presence. Also, not watching an Indian fashion week is not a deliberate move; it’s just that the major fashion weeks in India happen just after my Paris show — a time when I usually get busy with my buyers and assignments,” he said.

Rarely seen on the Indian runway in the recent past, Arora says his international commitments leave very little time to devote for domestic events.

He started retailing his label ‘Manish Arora’ in the year 1997 and his first fashion week participation was in 2000. He is the only Indian designer who has been invited to the Paris Fashion Week for seven consecutive years.

“There is no Indian show for me because I don’t get time to do both India and abroad. Also, I find it very difficult to concentrate on both the fashion weeks because of date problems. So I chose Paris, but if I have my dates right, I would definitely do India events,” the designer told IANS.

He is widening his global footprint - after Paris, the designer has a strong presence in London, Hong Kong and Miami market. He made a successful debut at the London Fashion Week in September 2005. After that, he showed a retrospective of his collection at Victoria and Albert Museum in 2007.

After working as creative director for French fashion house Paco Rabanne, he ended his association with it this month.

Asked if he was thinking about re-collaborating with them again, he said: “I am not planning to continue for the moment because I have my own shows. I am doing two shows in one week in Paris.

“The journey with the brand has been amazing as we got the chance to learn a lot with each other. I will definitely look for other brands but only if the offer is exciting,” he said.

Any pearls of wisdom for aspiring designers?

“Fashion is not just glamour, it’s like any other profession where you have to work like hell to create the benchmark. I guess there is space for everybody in the fashion world; one just needs to focus,” he said.

(Nivedita Sharma can be contacted at nivedita.s@ians.in)