Luxury Indian Fashion

This unique ethnographic investigation examines the role that fashion plays in the production of the contemporary Indian luxury aesthetic. Tracking luxury Indian fashion from its production in village craft workshops via upmarket design studios to fashion soirées, Kuldova investigates the Indian luxury fashion market's dependence on the production of thousands of artisans all over India, revealing a complex system of hierarchies and exploitation. In recent years, contemporary Indian design has dismissed the influence of the West and has focused on the opulent heritage luxury of the maharajas, Gulf monarchies and the Mughal Empire. Luxury Indian Fashion argues that the desire for a luxury aesthetic has become a significant force in the attempt to define contemporary Indian society. From the cultivation of erotic capital in businesswomen's dress to a discussion of masculinity and muscular neo-royals to staged designer funerals, Luxury Indian Fashion analyzes the production, consumption and aesthetics of luxury and power in India. Luxury Indian Fashion is essential reading for students of fashion history and theory, anthropology and visual culture.

A coherent and insightful view of the growing Global Luxury & Fashion Brands market in India, India by Design - The Pursuit of Luxury and Fashion unveils this culturally complex and dynamic market via a series of interviews with global Luxury and Fashion Experts. India has more consumers for luxury goods than the adult population of several countries. For international luxury brands, India is no longer a testing ground, but a lucrative market. India By Design looks at India as more than just an emerging luxury market with high growth potential, but scrutinizes it as a country rediscovering its luxury heritage and bringing it into the present and future in a uniquely Indian way. The authors' sense of detail balanced with their ability to see the big picture bring sense to the kaleidoscope of cultures, businesses and technology which is India today.

Fashion in India is distinctly unique, in its aesthetics, systems, designers and influences. Indian Fashion is the first study of its kind to examine the social, political, global and local elements that give shape to this multifaceted center. Spanning India's long historical contribution to global fashion to the emergence of today's vibrant local fashion scene, Sandhu provides a comprehensive overview of the Indian fashion world. From elite high-end to street style of the masses, the book explores the complex realities of Indian dress through key issues such as identity, class, youth and media. This ground-breaking book does not simply apply western fashion theory to an Indian context, but allows for a holistic understanding of how fashion is created, worn, displayed and viewed in India. Accessibly written, Indian Fashion will be a fantastic resource for students of fashion, cultural studies and anthropology.

This book examines the ways in which luxury fashion brands use their heritage in their digital storytelling and marketing. With chapters from authors in China and Macau (PRC), India, Romania, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States, covering British, Chinese, French, Japanese, Indian, Italian, and Turkish brands, this truly global collection is the first book of its kind devoted solely to the emerging study of digital heritage storytelling. This method of reaching potential consumers and perpetuating brand identity is a hugely important factor in the marketing of luxury brands and has yet to be studied comprehensively. The book will be of interest to scholars working in fashion studies, fashion history, design history, design studies, digital humanities, and fashion marketing.

The period since 1945 has been a transformative era for the fashion industry. Over the course of seventy years, the fashion world has moved from celebrating the craftsmanship of haute couture to revelling in ever-changing fast-fashion. This volume examines the transition from the old system to the new in a series of case studies grouped around three major themes. Part I focuses on Paris as a creative hub, aiming to understand how the birthplace of haute couture adapted to late-twentieth-century developments. Part II considers the retailer’s role in shaping taste, responding to consumer expectations and disseminating fashion merchandise. Part III looks to alternative visions of the European fashion system that have appeared in unexpected places. The volume is highly interdisciplinary, covering design history, cultural anthropology, ethnography, management studies and the cultural history of business.

Celebrates the new Indian designers—from ready-to-wear and haute couture to bridal and menswear—currently transforming the international fashion scene India is a rising star in the world of fashion. Drawing on an inimitable creative inheritance stretching back thousands of years, the country’s designers are rapidly securing India’s place in the future of fashion. Larger cities like Delhi and Mumbai, home to Lakmé Fashion Week and already destinations for the fashion elite, are no longer the sole players, as Pune and Bangalore grow increasingly influential. Across India, young designers are acting on the opportunities provided by the increasing influence of the nation’s fashion shows and the expanding market for boutiques and online retail. This timely first survey of Indian fashion celebrates the achievements of such young designers as Rahul Mishra, Aneeth Arora, and Ruchika Sachdeva, as well as the visually vibrant designs of established superstars including Manish Aurora, Abu Jani, Sandeep Khosla, and others. Illuminating profiles of the designers are interwoven with interviews conducted by the author especially for this book. Lush illustrations of all the hottest looks range from luxury bridal and ethnic formal wear to contemporary interpretations of the sari. Descriptions of the various techniques and materials employed reveal the skill behind each incredible garment, from traditional crafts like handloom weaving, color-resist dyed silk, intricate embroidery and appliqué, to cutting-edge fabrication and construction methods.

Despite being vastly different both socially and economically, art and fashion are increasingly converging to collaborate in mutually advantageous ways. This book discusses the mutual benefits of collaboration through analysis of successful case studies, including corporate art collections and museums, patronage and sponsorship initiatives, and art-based brand management in the fashion sector. It provides a categorization of the strategies that fashion firms employ when they join the art world and illustrates how art and fashion brands can interact strategically at different levels. This book will be a valuable resource to researchers, providing an enhanced understanding of the potential of artification for managing brands and products.

The opulent, delicate, and handcrafted Indian fashion pieces resemble the white lotus, India's national flower. The lotus too, with its beauty, grows out of the mud - mud that remains invisible and hidden. *** This anthology, written by an international group of anthropologists with hands-on experience in India and its multi-faceted fashion industry, explores the underlying dynamics of 'spectacular capitalism.' The contributors present a range of intriguing case studies that open up the potential for critique of the local, as much as the global, system that reproduces hierarchies and inequalities, while opening a window onto contemporary urban India. The book examines such questions as: * What do contemporary Indian spectacular fashion shows have in common with Western 19th-century department store fantasy palaces, the royal durbars, the elaborate museum displays of the colonial era, and the lives of erstwhile Indian royals? * What can the Delhi International Airport reveal about the current obsession of Indians with 'Indianness' - the 'local' and the refashioning of India for the global audience? * How does the 'royal chic' (the current trend in luxury Indian haute couture that recreates the splendor of the aristocratic lifestyles of the bygone era) depend on poverty for its visual and material existence? * Why does the Indian government invest in the Northeast Indian fashion scene and into the production of ethnic glamour and tribal chic? * How do glamour-seeking Kerala Muslim women appropriate the sexy Bollywood fashions while still retaining their codes of modesty? * How does the world of Delhi and its fashion designers look from the perspective of the village craftswomen that work for them, mock them, and laugh at them and their hectic life? * What is the science and artisanship behind the production of traditional Kolhapuri sandals, turned into luxury items for international consumers? * How do Bollywood cinema and the changing male fashion and body ideals reflect the transforming India?