FashionLady’s Cover Story on Vikram Phadnis

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Often referred to as Bollywood’s ace designer, Vikram Phadnis began his career as a choreographer and had a dry run on multiple other fields, before he shot to fame as a full-fledged fashion designer, which was his final call.

Unlike other biggies in fashion industry, Vikram has not undergone any professional training in costume designing, but his natural knack on fashion and unmatched passion for Bollywood have let him manage the wardrobes of some of the biggest names in the glamor industry, both Bollywood and corporate alike.

Being a natural stylist, fashion designing came to him naturally and we can see it in his collections, how effortlessly he manages to impress everyone on the runway. Vikram Phadnis is another recognized name in Bollywood fashion world next to Manish Malhotra and Rocky S.

As Manish is favorite among Kapoor sisters, Abu-Sandeep are popular in Bachchan family, similarly Vikram is a favorite designer for the Khan sisters – Malaika Arora Khan and Amrita Arora Khan.

[Also Read: Vikram Phadnis’s 25th Fashion Show]

Apart from designing costumes for top rated Bollywood movies, his exquisite collections are also showcased in various fashion runways, including LFW, Wills Fashion Week, Pune Fashion Week and Rajasthan Fashion Week to name a few.

Almost all of his shows have been a huge hit, as he subtly manages to satisfy almost everyone’s taste judging his shows.

He has the precision to blend conventional fashion with contemporary designs and has always maintained Indianness in all his creations. The best example we can give is his rural show at Lakme Fashion Week 2013. He elegantly exhibited rural India’s lifestyle by bringing in 30 Bollywood celebrities to do a ramp walk for his exclusive show.

Apart from Arbaz Khan and Malaika Arora Khan, who’re quite expected in his shows, veteran actors like Jeetendra and Sanjay Khan were also seen on the runway donning his rural fashion ensembles.

Vikram’s unique selling point lies in his bridal and pret-a-porter collections. He has always been known for his flamboyant and larger-than life pièce de résistance. However Vikram always emphasizes on the factor that his creations should not become a piece of show in his store, instead whatever he designs should be wearable and affordable at the same time.

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Some of his movies, which have brought him critical acclaim for his costume designing includes the following:

• Dhadkan
• Aitraaz
• Hulchul
• Blackmail
• Fight Club
• Anjaane
• Rocky – The Rebel
• Salaam-E-Ishq
• God Tussi Great Ho

Today, Indian fashion industry is witnessing an influx of budding talents with every sunrise. Although Vikram feels glad to see new faces in the industry everyday, he seriously feels there should be a base to it.

Fashion changes frequently and so are the costumes in Bollywood, which evolve in a frequent manner, so nobody wants to stick to one particular look. Vikram’s experiments with fabrics, colors and styles can be blamed for his successful career in world of fashion today.

After having a successful show at Lakme Fashion Week, Vikram Phadnis is now busy rewriting the script of his film, which he had started writing 2 years ago. The ace designer’s enamor with Indian cinema has finally motivated him to try his hand at film making.

The designer has stated that his film’s story would require a complete non-glamorous look, so he is going to include Swades-inspired rural Indian look in his women-centric film, which he has already hinted at his Lakme Fashion Week show.

He is willing to add an element of rural India in his film.

“I went to a number of villages and I think all that I saw will probably reflect in my film. You never know, if I am impressed I might use something out of it for my film.”