Scoping out the next big things before they become the next big things is important to us at ELLE HQ. It’s something we’ve consistently done over the course of 18 years – put emerging talent on your radar.
We’re calling them ELLE Graduates: DRVV by Dhruv Kapur made the cut for its constructed minimalism. Ikai’s Ragini Ahuja was applauded for putting a practical spin on luxury; Lovebirds’ Amrita Khanna and Gursimran Singh were praised for blending form and function; Rara Avis by Sonal Verma was recognised for its leather craftsmanship; and Ilk’s Shikha Grover and Vinita Adhikari were lauded for their playful textures. To celebrate the work of these up-and-comers we organised an intimate show of their latest work, at Tote On The Turf, Mumbai. And it was judged by the likes of Tarun Tahiliani, Gaurav Gupta, Jacqueline Fernandez, Max Fashion’s CS Shekhar, Ogaan’s Aashti Bhartia and ELLE’s Aishwarya Subramanyam.
Showstoppers like Aishwarya Nair, Soniya Mehra, Priyanka Bose, Anindita Nayar and Waluscha De Sousa walked down the ramp. And designers like Nimish Shah, Nishka Lulla, Nitya Arora and Nikhil Thampi came out to support the newly-minted labels. (Some, like Arora, even wore their creations.) By the end of evening Sonal Verma had bagged a high-street collaboration with Max Fashion and Ragini Ahuja had won a scholarship for a short term course at Istituto Marangoni. The rest of us? We’d had a look at the blinding-bright future of fashion. (Win-win?)
ELLE Graduates was powered by Max; Juice (hair styling partner); FTV (media partner); Istituto Marangoni (educational partner); L’Oreal Paris (make up partner); Grey Goose, Chandon and Peroni (alcohol partners)
