New Delhi, March 12 (IANS) Their designs inspired by puppets, flowers and even ragpickers left a lasting impression on the audience at The Debut, a contest highlighting India’s young fashion talent.
This year, Megha Nagpal, a student of Pearl Academy of Fashion won the contest beating 12 contestants from various fashion schools across India.

Pooja Gossain from NIFT and Vibhuti Gupta, also from NIFT, bagged the first and the second runner-up positions, respectively.

Nagpal told IANS that she was very happy at having won.

“There was cut-throat competition and I was sure of my designs but not confident. I am feeling on top,” Nagpal said after the grand finale here Thursday.

Nagpal had created garments that could be worn in different ways and the theme of her collection was ‘Want more’.

“We all want something different in life and what better than a garment that can be worn in different ways. It gives a different look each time you wear it,” Nagpal explained.

“I have used a lot of draping and tried to focus more on the comfort level,” she added.

Nagpal will receive a trophy at the upcoming Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) to be held March 18-23, besides an all expenses paid trip to an international fashion fair and an opportunity to work with ITC Ltd, which had organized the talent show.

ITC Lifestyle retailing divisional chief executive Atul Chand said: “This is a unique platform that nurtures and recognises young talent in the field of fashion design.”

The event was judged by a panel comprising designer member of Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) Rohit Gandhi, NIFT’s dean Sanjay Gupta, fashion consultant Mohan Neelakantan and Kamal Bose, vice president of ITC’s Lifestyle Retailing.

The contest was open to students of three leading fashion institutes of the country - NIFT, National Institute of Design (NID) and Pearl Academy of Fashion.

As many as 290 aspiring students had applied for the contest of which 45 were shortlisted. After the regional rounds, 12 candidates were finalised to showcase their collection.