Her collections always tell a story. She is a designer who has by self-admission “defied categorisation”. Meet Kiran Uttam Ghosh, Kolkata-based fashion designer who graduated in Economics and Political Science (for her parent's sake), but knew that fashion was her calling. "I guess fashion designing was always in my genes. My grandmother would stitch khadi for the love of it. In fact when she passed away I found truck loads of lace and fabric and really I am happiest when I have fabric around me," she says. In fact she goes on to explain that fabric inspires her to bring out the best and she almost feels she is a different person when she is with fabric.
Incidentally Ghosh graduated in fashion designing from Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai and then trained in London with well-known British designer Jasper Conran. “This was an amazing experience and has imparted in me a keen attention to detail,” she says.
The Design Factor
After her stint in London, she launched her own label ‘Kimono‘. The collection combines understated classic elegance with contemporary flair, shaped silhouettes and drapes with ‘in your face’ colours. The range of women’s wear includes kurtas, lehengas, shararas, sarees, sarongs and kurtis with ‘techno’ colours with a strong, slim silhouette.
Accessories include a funky line of handbags and shoes. She also has her couture line Kiran Uttam Ghosh that embodies a timeless classical appeal whether it is the saree that she has given new dimensions to or her outfits that are comfortable and stylishly constructed. In fact Ghosh has chosen to be based in Kolkata as “the Bengali karigar is the finest” and her creativity is at its best here.
As a designer, her clothes are understated, with shaped silhouettes and characteristic textures that refuse to be bracketed by terms such as Eastern or Western. She skillfully incorporates the traditional Indian and the international and focuses on reality and simplicity in her designs. A mainstay of the Indian fashion circuit, sustaining one of the highest selling designer brand, Kiran has a presence in eight countries including India, UK, USA, Switzerland, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Kenya. So what does fashion mean to the designer herself? “Today you cannot limit fashion to merely clothes as it is really a sense of style, individuality and lifestyle and for me really it’s my life,” she states. She is also quick to state that her clothes are never bizarre which is why her label has been commercially viable for the last 12 years.
According to Ghosh, her unique selling proposition is her attention to even minute details, which is her strength that also something that “drives me mad at times.” Ghosh was also the first Indian designer who was invited to showcase her collection at the Rome fashion week in 2006.
Quiz her on the experience and she is quick to reply, “I was as nervous as hell, but it went off so well that it is one of my finest memories to date.”