Mohali boy debuts at Lakme Fashion Week

It is well past sun down but the day has just begun for this 27-year-old designer. "I have waited so long for this moment," admits Vipin Batra as he scurries about getting his tall, leggy models to try out his designs. Batra opened the Generation Next designer category on the first day of the Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2010 in Mumbai last weekend. "I always dreamt of arriving with my own label," says Batra. His phone hasn't stopped ringing ever since March 5, when his alma mater Northern India Institute of Fashion Technology (NIIFT) in Mohali got to know about his debut.



Batra, who hails from Rajasthan, is from the 2004-2006 batch of Knitwear Design Technology. "All that I know of fashion, its techniques and philosophy is what I learnt at NIIFT, Mohali," he says. His teachers haven't forgotten him either. "Batra was very hard working and I am glad it all paid off well for him," says NIIFT Mohali's director Vijay Sharma.



Designer duo Hemant Lalwani and Nandita Rajpurani, incidentally, are two other successful designers who trained at the institute. About a year ago, he came out with his own label V for Vipin Batra. He took his new line to the Bangalore Fashion Week held in February this year. For LFW, Batra rolled out his Swirls of Life. "I like to experiment with different yarns by creating new textures. For Swirls of Life, I was inspired by the planets and the cosmos," he says, whose line-up included snug-fitting gowns made of graphic-jacquard knitwear technique. With just Swarovskis for embellishment, Batra played up the line with lots of colour.



The response, so far, has been good. "I have got invitations for Hong Kong Fashion Week as well London Fashion Week. I am thrilled," he sums up. Vipin Batra has been trying to make inroads into Lakme Fashion Week for over three years and finally made his debut this season.



Vipin says, "I was so excited to get this opportunity to show my work to a larger audience with Lakmé Fashion Week - Summer/Resort 2010. I am not one to get afraid of competition, rather I take it as a challenge; it gives me even more strength to push my creativity to the next level. Swirls of Light is the main source of inspiration and one person who I would Love to dress in my signature style is my idol, John Gilliano."


The author is an entertainment news editor and works for many websites related to event, bollywood, music, movie, concerts and theater. Visit one more interesting article of author: Mukul Dongre or visit: http://www.buzzintown.com/artistes_type--artist_mukul-dongre--id_196.html