The fashion world was taken by storm when Donatella Versace was seen in an ad campaign for Givenchy. While it’s not new for designers to wear their friend’s creations, taking it commercially was not expected. When you have two such big names, it certainly changes the stakes. And Indian designers too have taken note and are also game for it too.
For designer Suneet Verma, a lot of his contemporaries have been in the business for over 20 years and are known as style divas or gurus. “When such a person comes in, he or she brings more than brand recall. It’s more of a compliment than getting a Bollywood star to endorse your brand. It’s like when you invite other designers to your shows on the front row, it’s because you respect their opinion. You respect their presence. It’s a similar kind of endorsement,” Suneet says.
Namrata Joshipura feels that if the other designer’s personality suits her design sensibilities, it would be a great collaboration.
“It’s like you get a validation from a fashion insider. I would love to have Malini Ramani on board because I relate to her personality and sense of style,” she says.
“If someone like a Rajesh Pratap wears my clothes in a photograph, that also means he respects my design sensibilities. Our aesthetics overlap and that does mean more business, undoubtedly,” Suneet adds.
If such a business move did materialise, fashion designer duo Shivan and Narresh says they would ask Anamika Khanna and Masaba Gupta to be their brand ambassadors.
“Anamika for her effortless elegance and Masaba for her body confidence, who says that it’s all about loving your curves. These ideologies resonate with our brand,” Narresh says. Suneet would go for Monisha Jaisingh and Rina Dhaka because “they are young, cool women who design beautiful, sexy clothes.” Only Anna Singh begs to differ. “Unless I was quitting designing altogether, I wouldn’t ask other designers to endorse me. Emotionally, I would ask Rohit Bal to be my brand ambassador,” she says.
