Hyderabadi designer’s debut at Lakme Fashion Week

Training students in fashion designing at Hamstech and NIFT, Arvind Ampula has set quite an example for the strugglers in the fashion designing industry. With courage to face failures in the field that he chose, he moved on with his designs and finally acquired the opportunity of showcasing his wedding collections at the Lakme Fashion Week held recently.

Excerpts from an interview

How was your experience at Lakme Fashion Week?
It was really good. I have got really good buyers commercially. When it came to the run way, my collection had two variations starting with brides to bride’s maid and grooms to grooms men. For brides we had heavy lehengas to party wear anarkalies, so the pricing was really good, and the best point was I had good buyers for the collection due to commercial hit.

The collection consisted of jadau, zardozi and pitta work. Depending upon various embellishments the collections are suitable for the present market and the colour palette was very fresh because many of the designers were using floral and pastels, I concentrated more on pastel with bright colours which was very attractive for the clients.

As a designer what suggestions do you give for women, who are traditional in their style?
According to the society there is a lot of change in the traditional garments, but when it comes to the traditional garments for a bride nothing has changed. In our designs we have changed the aesthetic related silhouette but not the exact feel of the garments because a lehenga cannot be modernised for a wedding day. So, we focused on the cuts and silhouette, which can be carried to a wedding and a normal function too. So, I did not change the essence of bride’s clothes but experimented on the bride’s maid designs.

What is the theme of your designs?
I focused on Rajwada collection where we try to put up appliqué, patch works etc along with the pitta works. We used peony flowers which gave a highlight look of 3d to our textures.

Which is the best design of yours that you showcased at LFW and caught best attention?
The best garment was what Sophie Choudry was wearing on the runway. It was not planned that it would move so easily but eventually the cut and the silhouette was very modernised and comparatively the bride can carry it to a sangeet and also an engagement. The colours were great and that is the reason I had a really good come back and sales on the garment.

What were the challenges in your career as a designer?
As a designer to polish myself I had to go through a lot of ups and downs when it came to the struggle period. The first and the foremost thing is that experience mattered. The finishing and the cuts and the silhouettes had to be matured to showcase ourselves on such a big ramp. Working to gain experience from an experienced designer was must for me. To reach that platform was a hurdle and it was no doubt a struggle. It was also difficult to get to the jury of LFW.

What are you planning in the future?
I will be showcasing my designs at LFW Summer and Spring collections and also at the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI).