Blog

India has a precious and rich heritage for clothing and garments. Earlier the garments were designed and made for Kings, Queens and royal family members from various fabrics like original silk, velvet, mulmul, etc. The embroidery work was done with original gold strands. Eventually, the new technological advancements took place, people’s lifestyles and choices changed, new types of fabrics and designs got introduced in the market.

Today, India has many famous fashion designers who are investing their craftsmanship, creativity, and efforts to contribute to the growing fashion industry.

Top Fashion Designers in India

Some of the top fashion designers in India are as below:

• Manish Malhotra
• Rohit Bal
• Anita Dongre
• Sabyasachi Mukherjee
• Wendell Rodricks
• Neeta Lulla
• Tarun Tahiliani
• Anju Modi
• Raghavendra Rathore

Manish Malhotra

Manish Malhotra the famous fashion designer of India started his career as a model. He started his career as a fashion designer when he failed in modelling. At the age of 25, he entered Bollywood by designing garments for Juhi Chawla for the movie Swarg. In 1998, he jumped into the mainstream of fashion by starting high-profile couture named Reverie – Manish Malhotra.

He has designed garments for many leading actresses of the film industry from Sridevi, Urmila Matondkar, Karishma Kapoor, Kajol, Raveena Tandon, Manisha Koirala, Madhuri Dixit, Twinkle Khanna, Shilpa Shetty, Kareena Kapoor, to Aishwarya Rai, Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, and Alia Bhatt, etc.

He won awards in 1996, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011 etc. He is best known for giving traditional wear designs an ultra-modern look. Some of his signature styles are – intricate embroideries, unique western-inspired trends like off-shoulder blouses or floor-length ponchos, etc.

Rohit Bal

Rohit Bal is a well-known fashion designer who is famous for his attention towards detail at work. He started working as a fashion designer in 1990 and also launched his label “Rohit Bal Couture”. He is associated with many Indian and International brands like – Christian Louboutin, Kirtilal Jewellers, Zippo Lighters and Reid & Taylor. He is titled as India’s “Master of Fabric and Fantasy‟ by Time Magazine in 1996.

Anita Dongre

Anita Dongre is a fantastic designer inspired by Indian culture, handloom, heritage, and craftsmanship. She has four major brands named Anita Dongre, Anita Dongre Grassroot, AND, Global desi. Her brands provide Indian Bridal wear, Men’s wear, Western wear and Ethnic wear. There are 13 brand stores all over India and 2 stores at the international level.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee

Sabyasachi Mukherjee is a Bengali designer from Kolkata. He started his career in 1999, his roots, Indian culture, and heritage are reflected in his designs. He is inspired by the scenic views and backdrops of Kolkata. His label is SABYASACHI, with 18 stores in India and 6 international stores.

He designs bridal wear, men’s wear, embroidered shoes, clutches, and jewellery. He designed wedding clothes for Vidya Balan, Asin, Sagrika Ghatge, Amruta Puri, Soha Ali Khan, Bipasa Basu, Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, etc.

Wendell Rodricks

Wendell Rodricks started his career as a catering graduate, but he found fashion designing more interesting and suitable for him. He is known for his “passion for white”. He is from Goa, he also writes columns in Femina, Goa Today and freelance fashion journalism in major Indian news media. The designer is an art lover and promotes Goan artists at the Wendell Rodricks Couture Salon.

Neeta Lulla

Neeta Lulla a very well known Indian fashion designer, she says ‘Fashion is not constant, style is’. She has been designing wedding dresses since 1985. She is a designer who is designing costumes for celebrities for movie appearances. She has designed for many actors and actresses for more than 300 movies. She designed garments for Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit for the trendsetting movie ‘Devdas’.

She also designed the garments for the movie ‘Jodha Akbar’. She recently designed costumes for Kangana Ranaut for the movie ‘Manikarnika’. She is engaged with Bollywood and the fashion industry for over 3 decades and has styled more than 90 celebrities.

Tarun Tahiliani

Tarun Tahiliani is a leading fashion designer in India; he has acquired a degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. He co-founded ‘Ensemble’, India‟s first multi-designer boutique in 1987, and then in 1990, he established ‘Tahiliani Design studio’ situated at New Delhi.

His brand label is known as ‘Ahilian’, it is famous for its uniqueness and creative style. The designer is famous for designing couture, bridal wear, occasion wear, men’s sherwani, ready-to-wear, accessories, hand-embroidered clutches, etc.

Anju Modi

Anju Modi is a famous Indian fashion designer, who is an integral part of the fashion industry since 1990. She designed costumes for Deepika Padukone for the movie Bajirao Mastani. The label for her brand is named ‘Anju Modi’. She has put major efforts for reviving traditional Indian crafts and textile, age-old techniques that were long forgotten.

The designer has created an extensive library for research and development techniques for weaving, vegetable dyeing, block printing, and traditional embroidery. She won the Filmfare award for ‘Best Costume Designer’ for ‘Bajirao Mastani’. Other than this, the designer also won many awards in the years 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Raghavendra Rathore

Raghavendra Rathore is India’s very famous name for luxury men’s wear. He is born and brought up in a royal family of Jodhpur, Rajasthan. He has acquired a degree from Parsons School of Design in New York, and has worked with high-end brands such as DKNY and Oscar de la Renta. He returned to Jodhpur to set up his label ‘Raghavendra Rathore’ in 1994. He is a specialist in traditional men’s wear.

He introduced ‘Jodhpur Bandhgala Jackets’ in the fashion industry, and it has been recognized at national and international level too. The Bandhgala jackets are the prime choice of celebrity grooms that include Virat Kohli, Akash Ambani – Reliance Industries and actor Sonam K Ahuja‟s businessman husband, Anand Ahuja, etc.

Raghavendra Brand brand stores cater to men’s wear, women’s wear, made-to-order, etc. He is also engaged in working for interior design, wedding and events design, accessories and jewellery. His prestigious and precious clients are Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, HH Padmanabh Sinh (Maharaja of Jaipur), Amitabh Bachchan, Virat Kohli, Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor, HH Maharaja Manujendra Shah (Maharaja of Tehri Garhwal), etc.

Some other famous fashion designers who have contributed to the fashion industry remarkably are – J.J. Valaya, Abu Jani & Sandeep Khosla, Khanna, Rina Dhaka, Ritu Kumar, Shantanu & Nikhil, Shyamal Bhumika, Monisha Jaising, Anushree Reddy, Rimple and Harpreet Narula, Rahul Mishra, etc.