Parineeti, Shabana at Manish Malhotra Show at Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week 2012 day 2

MIJWAN – Indian Evening Wear by Manish Malhotra at Wills India Fashion Week 2012. 3 years ago young enterprising Namrata Goyal and renowned celebrated actor & social activist Shabana Azmi approached Manish to help them to promote the Mijwan Welfare Society, an NGO that was founded by noted film lyricist Kaifi Azmi to empower the girl child. It was then that he was introduced to the chikankari work done by the Mijwan girls. The embroidery & craftsmanship showcased by them stands up to the highest standards anywhere in the world.

Manish Malhotra – who’s journey has been the most unique, with over 1000 films & 38 awards, is known to redefine costume designing for 12 years now. From designing for the biggest films and stars to being the first ever costume designer to launch his own main stream label “Manish Malhotra” in 1995, Manish continues to create spectacular collections under his label and is one of the most coveted designers for Brides and Bridegrooms all over the world. His label currently retails across Mumbai, Delhi, and Dubai amongst others.

The Mijwan collection this season for WIFW will see the return of earthy, subdued tones like Ivory, burnt Orange, Crème, dull shades of Red, Pink and the likes. The collection embraces the traditional but popular embroidery work – Chikankari. The intrinsic needlework work is done exclusively by the Mijwan girls adopted by Manish. The embroidery gets its effect from the variety of stitches and different grades of threads used to form the beautiful patterns. This, teamed with the stunning and immaculate designs by Manish has been instrumental in the creation of some exquisite ensembles. Needless to add, there are heavy traces of Manish Malhotra’s unique style of bridging yesterday with tomorrow.

Manish Malhotra says, “The WIFW 2012 collection displays the convoluted and chic chikankari work done by the women of Mijwan, exclusively for us. The presentation of traditional Indian crafts in a contemporary modern outlook is something we are proud to bring to our audiences.”
The past 2 years of the Mijwan show in Mumbai has seen great success with actors like Hrithik Roshan, Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra among others walking the ramp. This year also had Mary Kom, Nita Ambani and a few film directors grace the ramp.