Hold the creative hands

There was controversy surrounding the position alright but fashion designer Aki Narula has no qualms in being excited about his new responsibility. After all, being appointed as the mentor to the Gen Next designers at Lakmé Fashion Week is no easy task. “I am very happy to share my experiences with the aspiring designers and it’s a great way for me to give back to the industry which has given me so much.”

Incidentally, Aki has had no formal training in designing and says when he started, he had too many questions and very few people to answer them. “I am in constant touch with the young designers; they have a lot of questions and it makes me really happy that I am being able to give them the right kind of response,” offers Aki.

Aki informs us that the six young designers, whose names are yet to be divulged, are working on very interesting ideas for the show. “Each is very different from the other,” iterates Aki, who believes that all the youngsters have great potential.

Any role comes with its share of challenges and Aki’s isn’t without them either. “Time is the most important challenge of all — but then again, there is nothing we can’t take care of!” he says.
Apart from mentoring the new age designers, Aki is pretty busy designing for superstars.

“Currently I am busy with three projects, Rockstar with Ranbir Kapoor, Agent Vinod with Saif Ali Khan and Joker with Akshay Kumar,” says the designer, who has played a pivotal role in transforming fashion in films, adding, “Fashion in films has become wearable now, the trend is huge now and it’s become accessible. The clothes are real and not filmi any more!”