|
Amit and Radhika Rastogi of the store
RCKC have been promoting Khanna's label in Britain and
she had earlier launched her international label at a
new store in Notting Hill.
"We saw in Anamika the talent and
the gumption required to survive in international fashion,"
said Radhika Rastogi. The Rastogis organised more than
two million pounds of investment into building Khanna's
brand.
Khanna has now become the first Indian
to launch an international fashion label and with her
showing at the London Fashion Week, Indian designers have
now shown at each of the world's biggest fashion weeks,
except New York.
Ritu Beri has shown for nine seasons
in Paris and Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Tarun Tahiliani
have sashayed their styles at Milan.
For her success, Khanna, who is showing
at the On/Off, Royal Academy of Arts in London, has had
to tone down her Indian play of colours.
"This is a different ball game,"
said Khanna. "Here you have to do exactly what is
in vogue that season - you can't be doing your own thing."
Back home, the designer is in the process
of acquiring a new 10,000 sq ft factory at her base in
Kolkata. "My production capacity would be boosted
by four times," said Khanna, one of the finest, yet
self-consciously underplayed, designers in the country.
"Over the years, production and
professionalism has been a problem for Indian designers.
But we can't afford to let that happen any more.
"As the market opens and brings
new opportunities, we need to match up to international
standards," said Khanna.
Khanna is one of the two designers from
Kolkata who have zoomed into limelight in recent years.
The other is Sabyasachi Mukherjee who showed in Milan
this year.
|
