High on colour: Ranna Gill

Spring might just have turned to summer for us but in the world of fashion, it is already time to look ahead and make trend forecasts about Autumn/Winter 2013. In this regard, there’s a lot to look forward to at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) Autumn Winter 2013 that will be held this coming week, from March 13 to March 17 in the capital.

Amid a slew of designers taking part at the fashion week is Ranna Gill, a name you’ll be quite familiar with if Indian fashion is a subject you follow closely. The Delhi-based designer, who’s been at it in creating a global brand out of her name since 1996, is a regular participant at the WIFW and as always promises a good show.

“One is always nervous and a bit on edge before the show. There sure are butterflies in the stomach,” admits the designer candidly as she talks to us from her studio in New Delhi. Delving into the collection she will be showing at WIFW, Ranna says, “This will be the Fall 2013 collection  that I will be presenting. The collection- I haven’t given it a name yet,” she reveals, “has metallic influences, engineered prints and is high on colour, so you won’t find dark, sombre colours like blues, greys and browns here.”

“The collection has maxis for which we have a strong customer base that’s only grown over the years, but this time around  we’ve done accent pieces embellished with rivets, studs etc evoking the metallic mood. It’s heavier in treatment,” adds Ranna, attempting to explain what’s different about her Fall ’13 collection.

With the country's fashion weeks more or less acting as forecasters of the trends of the season, it is but an obvious assumption that people watch the designers closely, looking at their collections as inspirations for their personal style. Quiz Ranna about her expectations from her collection- whether they will set trends or just be well-received and get her buyers and the designer says, “I expect a bit of everything. I wish they help set
trends just as I hope they are liked by the audiences enough to get them to buy them.

That is the reason I’ve always striven to design clothes that are user-friendly and retail friendly. Every time I design a collection, all that I am thinking is — can they wear it? It’s always been about making our customers happy for us.”

In the course of the conversation, there comes the bit about her 17-year-long career. Doesn’t doing the same thing year in and out bore her, maybe? “I have no time to get bored!” is Ranna’s instant reply. “There’s so much work involved in terms of getting the look, working on the designs.... as a fashion designer you are working in so many different layers; it’s constant work and so, you know, bored is the last word in my dictionary.”

Now, one of the things that keeps her busy and far from bored is travelling and being seen in any number of events in the capital. Visibility, the designer agrees, is quite important today for success.  “You’ve got to be on the road; you’ve got to be out there. I really believe it’s important today that people see you, hear about you and read about you today.” In the same breath, she also acknowledges the fact that the retail market sphere has grown exponentially in the country and abroad. “It’s bigger, more experimental and more markets are developing today, than what it used to be when we started retailing,” Ranna states rather cheerfully.

Before wrapping up the interview, the final question we put forth to her is a how she’d like to be remembered as and pat comes the reply,”I’d like to be remembered as a designer who was colourful, relevant and someone who made feminine and extremely wearable clothes.”

@dnaindia.net