Painting Cartoon

The very first official Indian designer for Barbie clothes launched her own label 'Nisshk' at 'Fuel' yesterday as mommy Neeta Lulla with family, watched her outshine one and all. This line of her is a complete girly collection reflecting her own style and sensibility. The range has a vintage feel to it; one could easily say that designs are dedicated to teenagers. However, each ensemble is so young and vibrant that anyonTake a stroll down any street in urban America, or for that matter any suburbia, and you'll be struck by how common urban fashion clothing is out there. Whether tweens, teens, seniors, or in-betweens - they're all sporting the hottest urban designer clothing of the day. Urban clothing designers like Sean John, FUBU, Maurice Malone, Phat Farm, Mecca USA, Wu Wear, Ecko Unlimited, Enyce, Karl Kani, and Triple 5 Soul are making it big both on 125th Street in Harlam as well as Seventh Avenue.

Indeed, the hip looks of urban clothing design has caught on in a big way, especially with America's white, young suburbanites, who view inner-city black youth as independent and savvy, and a are keen on emulating their dressing style along with the attitude that goes with it. Brightly colored, baggy clothing have become mainstream in the street fashion of America, which has resulted in making small fortunes for designers creating this stuff.

These designers keep their ears close to the street, hence know exactly what the urban fashion conscious customer desires and wants ' stylish and innovative attire. Practically everybody's embracing the cult of rap, and that oversize, logoed, vibrantly colored look has caught everybody's fancy.

So much so, that in order to widen their appeal further, many urban fashion designers are making a conscious shift away from labeling their stuff 'urbanwear' and using 'metropolitan' or 'contemporary' instead. That's because the term 'urban', as far as fashionable attire is concerned, has outgrown its definition. There has been a blurring of the lines of clothing that was meant for that particular market. While it started out with basic T-shirts and oversize denim, it has now evolved into including tailored clothing for women and men's wear collections. Hence, today's urban fashion clothing runs the whole gamut from denim suits to T-shirts to tailored suits plus furs and luxury leathers.

Today, amongst urban clothing designers, there is a perceptive shift toward Generation X ' the talent is more youthful and certainly more street savvy. Gen X designers are therefore getting more creative. That's because they are aware that the urban fashion conscious consumer is equally savvy, taking the best creations of a designer and mixing-and-matching them to create a look all their own.

Hence, the same disaffected youth who used to consider bohemian chic and the grunge look the last word in using clothing as a weapon in the politics of rebellion is beginning to realize that the true sprit of fashion is not just about breaking rules just for the sake of it, but exploring how the rules can relate to the way they see themselves in the world they live in, and how they can be used to express their individuality.

In other words, today's urban fashion consumers have developed a very sophisticated and mature understanding of how clothing ought to fit and how fashion works. Hence designers, responding to this new maturity in consumers, are designing men's lines that are actually taking into account how trousers should hang from the waist and reach just above the shoe to create a clean cut. Many urban street fashion companies are including traditional dress shirts and tailored clothing in order to provide something for anybody looking to make a trendy statement.

These are individuals who still like the idea of urban fashion, but may not necessarily be into loud stuff (although the bright colors are also offered alongside). These are the people who are finding new ways to stand out from the crowd by finding new ways to assert themselves by taking the best in denim wear and mixing them with traditional sportswear and chic and cheap labels to create an individualized look.
e can wear it. The Black story had a full range of dresses with beautiful round necklines and stone works that made it look classy. Whites once again had their own purity with minimalism. Pinks and greys were also found aplenty.

Net, georgette, chiffon, beautifully combined with crochet work and knits looked sensual. Pearls and other beaded accessories enhanced the vintage feel. Just teaming up those with veiled headgears would be reminiscent to that 80's look. Juhi Chawla couldn't stop praising Nishka, in her words "I am amazed to see her designs. I wish I had teenage daughters and then I would have chosen most of it (the collection) for them. Initially, I was expecting her designs to be influenced by Neeta's designs however, I am actually surprised. It's totally different, completely 'Nishka'." Though Esha Deol loves to dress up in black, Nishka managed to mesmerize her with baby pinks and whites. "Personally, I like to be simple and mostly prefer black, however, I must confess that Nishka has done a fabulous job at this young age and managed to convince me likewise. Having 'Neeta' with her is an advantage and I am sure, she will carve a niche for herself pretty soon", said Esha at the launch.

Well we all are eager to know how Neeta felt about it, so here goes- "Nishka is a very hard working girl. Unlike me, she is truly focused on whatever she is doing at a time. In fact her design sensibility reflects her persona and taste. I have always been a tough boss to her when it comes to professional training, hope she does really well in this million dollar industry". 'Fuel' is one of the premiers in the business houses and also believes in giving a chance to young talents. Falguni Jhaveri from 'Fuel' says "I have always known Neeta's designs but quite surprised to see Nishka do such creative work in her own style. It's a privilege to retail her designs from our store".

The fashion industry appeared like how to congratulate Nishka. Mr. Anil Chopra (Lakme), Lubna Adams (choreographer), Vikram Raizada (IMG), designers Vikram Phadnis and Anita Dongre visited to take a sneak peak of the young designers collection. We also spotted Leena Mogre, Royel Padamsee, Kishan Mulchandani and Parvez Damania. Neeta's association with Bollywood attracted most of the stars at the brunch. Sameera Reddy, Aftab Shivdasani, Celina Jaitley, Esha Deol, Juhi Chawla, Pooja Batra, Shreya Sharanand Neetu Chandra were few of them. Models, Kavita Kharayat, Netra Raghuna than and Deepti Gujral also made a quick appearance.

Stylekandy.com was the first to report designer Pria Kataria Puri will be showcasing her collection in a fund raiser event at the annual Miss India, USA pageant. Now, in another first of sorts, we bring to you the coverage of the event with first hand information and pictures, before it's even aired on national television. The event opened with Pria's spectacular fashion show, showcasing an 'INDO WESTERN' collection. Top models walked the ramp, all of them ex- Miss Indi as, USAs and Globes. There was a silent auction of few of pieces from the collection. Pria said, "I am very excited and honoured to represent India once again in an international platform for a great cause!" PKP had been invited to showcase at the same platform last year too.

Lisa Ray, Judge of Mr and Ms Globe looked ravishing in Pria Kataria Puri's dresses- "she loved Pria's outfits so much, she decided to wear a golden sexy number for the red carpet and an off-white tulle elegant indo western outfit for the later part of the evening. Kiely Williams, who also walked the ramp and the Chetah Girls, looked stunning in Pria's silk jersey gowns and antique uncut bangles. Top celebrities from Hollywood and Bollywood came together to go down the red carpet, greet fans, pose for pictures, and experience an amazing night.Modern women-at-desk work clothes were first mass-produced in Manhattan in the 1890s, when a man's shirt was crossed with a woman's dress-bodice to create the shirtwaist blouse. With a durable skirt and tailor-made jacket, it became the uniform of generations of clerks and typists. Liz Claiborne, who has died aged 78 from cancer, dramatically updated that uniform in the mid-1970s, when many young women in the US began their own careers rather than accept supporting roles.

Claiborne returned to the first principle of the shirtwaist - feminine fabrics and color, combined with masculine simplicity of use - and drew from her long apprenticeship in sportswear design to clothe "busy and active women like myself ... who dress in a rush and who weren't perfect."

Her soft tailoring of separates was classy enough to have sustained a couture career, but her real interest was in outfitting ordinary women in law offices, banks and schools. She believed in industrial production, retail sales and reasonable prices, and had a hard head for finance.

Though from a prominent Louisiana family, Claiborne was born in Brussels. Her banker father took her to European museums, her mother taught her to sew; she summered with family back in Baltimore and New Orleans. She studied painting in Brussels, Paris and Nice, and aged 19, won a design contest in Harper's Bazaar magazine. She defied her parents' objections to working in fashion or to cutting off her long hair. She told her father she wanted to settle in Manhattan while they were driving through the city; he gave her $50 and wished her good luck.

Claiborne scratched out a living sketching in the backrooms of garment trade houses when Seventh Avenue was the world center of readymade sportswear; she married Ben Schultz, designer for Time-Life Books, and kept working after their son, Alexander, was born. In 1954, at another sportswear gig, she met Arthur Ortenberg, a textile executive. Both left their spouses, and they married in 1957.

Claiborne joined the reliable Jonathan Logan Youth Guild label in 1960 to design youth wear, staying until it closed 15 years later. She could see a gap in the market in the mid-1970s, when mass fashion assumed that women were willing to go to the office dressed up as if for a disco night; the major practical option was a modified air-hostess look, neat yet dumb. But she dared not risk the family savings until the children had finished college. Then, with $50,000 savings and $200,000 borrowed from friends and relatives, she set up Liz Claiborne Inc on January 18 1976, with Arthur as corporate secretary. The first collection had 35 interchangeable pieces, sound in line and unconventional in color: "businesslike, but not too pinstripe, more casual, more imaginative, less uptight," she said. They were sold differently within department stores, grouped together by label instead of segregated by type into skirt, pants and blouse sub-departments.

The garments did the job, any job, with style and elan, and the company grossed $2.6m in its first year. It went public in 1981, and in 1986 became the first company founded by a woman to be listed in the Fortune 500; that year sales were $5.6m. Claiborne had women chief executives and among the acolytes in her design team was the young Donna Karan.

When she stood down as head of the company in 1990, it was the largest maker of womenswear in the US, with sales of $1.4bn from 35 million garments. Since then it has gathered a portfolio of brands, including Juicy Couture and a half share in Narciso Rodriguez, though the original Liz Claiborne label has faded. Middle-income earners now aspire differently - the would-be wealthy go for top-quality ready-to-wear, the crowds mix sportswear and cheap designer copies.

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