Made in India is the new chic

When First Lady Michelle Obama wore Naeem Khan’s gold strapless gown adorned with sterling silver-plated appliqués to her first White House state dinner last November, the Mumbai-born designer said it “changed his life”. The triumph helped Khan, who migrated to America when he was a 20-year-old, answer a key question — who am I?

The grandson of a Mumbai textile entrepreneur who specialises in elaborate embroidery, Khan was thrust into the world of American fashion when he became an assistant to famous designer Roy Halston, whom he met through his father. Khan’s style was nurtured between the aesthetically opposite worlds of his father’s opulence and Halston’s minimalism.

“When I was designing Obama’s dress, half of me was saying, ‘What would Halston do?’ The other half was saying, ‘Be who you are.’ Halston, me, America, India — it’s been such a great combination. This is what makes me who I am, with the clean lines I learned from Halston and complicated Indian over-the-top Bollywood traditions. There’s a lot of confusion in India with design and colour, and I have just taken it, simplified it, cleaned it,” Khan told reporters.

Khan, 52 is now a celebrity in America’s cliquish, moneyed fashion world. Hollywood stars vie for his dazzling gowns which do battle for domination of the Oscars red carpet with Giorgio Armani, Donna Karan and Oscar de la Renta’s haute couture gowns. The Naeem Khan label launched in 2003 has stormed Bergdorf Goodman, Harrods and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Overcoming a mindset
Indian designers say their assimilation in the world’s largest fashion city has come through a trial by fire. For every Naeem Khan, there are hundreds who don’t even glimpse an internship at a US fashion house — leave alone find the dollars to produce their own line. Indian immigrants have flourished in science, finance and medicine but seldom do designers say their parents were supportive of their choice to study fashion design. Those who have studied design will tell you their lack of experience wasn’t the only challenge. “As the only Indian among 12 interns, my bosses were sceptical of my abilities. I was Indian, and they kept questioning that,” said Rajat Singh who goes to class Tuesday through Thursday and to his internship Friday through Monday. “I would overhear them talking, ‘Oh, he might not have the American sensibility.’ “

But things are changing. “Rachel Roy and Khan have given a new credibility to rising Indian designers,” says New York designer Gurpreet Pia Fleming.

Indian tailoring tradition
Delhi-born Fleming did design work for Badgley Mishka, Tocca and Kenzo before launching her own label. She pays attention to details like cuts, folds, layers, embroidery and beading. “That is a reflection of India’s long-standing tailoring tradition,” quips Fleming, who makes fresh and flirty dresses for Manhattan.

“My clothes are different from Gap or Banana Republic. What I bring is the element of crafts from India. Even Americans who haven’t been exposed to the Far East are appreciating the “wow” factor in our embellished clothes where the colours are bold,” says Fleming, who targets women aged 25-to-55 in America and the Middle East. “My Bian label is made in India. I have my own factory in Noida that also manufactures for other designers in the US and Europe,” says Fleming, who has two sisters in Delhi who oversee the Noida factory which produces 5,000 to 8,000 units a month.

Today’s Indian American designers don’t wear their “otherness” on their sleeves. This is in contrast to the wave of Japanese designers like Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto, who took the West by storm in the ‘80s with avant-garde designs. Payal Singhal’s blend of East and West and modern takes on classic looks, are aimed at a broad audience. Like Fleming, Singhal does her manufacturing out of India and sells in America, India and the Middle East. Vogue has described them as “gorgeous dresses  for downtown New York with just enough of the genuine Indian magic”. “I never tried consciously to create something that was Indo-Western,” said Singhal, who has trained at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. “It happened instinctively..”  

Gaining a foothold  
Even three years ago, stores in Europe and America were hoighty-toighty about the Made in India label. Western designers would buy bagfuls of Indian textiles, get embroidery or mirror work done, and whisk them overseas to be stitched and sold under Western labels.

“There was an embarrassment in the couture business about Indian stuff. When goods carried the India or China labels buyers went “Oh.” When it came to couture, people wanted French, Italian,” said Fleming. “But people are beginning to look at the India label differently. China is good for volume and prices but India is great for crafts and design aesthetics. US stores have made that acceptance,” said Fleming.

Kiran Rai, who crossed the line of fashion stardom and profitability with her beatnik ‘Sir Alistair Rai’ label and launched her high-end Kiran Rai label this year, says: “The India-is-cool trend has waxed and waned for decades. It goes back to The Beatles, Ravi Shankar — I guess we are very lucky because it started a few years ago and hasn’t left. Now when I look around I see the India-inspired aesthetic everywhere.”

Despite the US slowdown, Indian garment manufacturing is shining with textile quality and cheap skilled workers boosting the industry’s value to $20 billion.