No wonder she hits page 3 so often in the city! That’s because she is the best model for her own designs, aided with her delightful little girl looks. But lets not be flippant, Amanda Bachalli’s pedigree as a designer is impeccable. Having done her Fine Art at Stella Maris in Chennai, she did a further three year degree in Fashion design with NIFT Chennai before she made Bangalore her home. “ I worked here for SWEAR as a designer intern and then was absorbed in a regular job for a year. Then I taught part time in NIFT and Shristi School of Design. Later I moved to TESCO Stores, UK where I learnt merchandising and we exported to Hungary, Poland and other segments of Europe right here in Bangalore.  But I wanted to get back to design, as that is my first love so after three years in TESCO I floated my own label.”

Starting out with a women’s line called Amanda, she was launched into the Bangalore design scene by Prasad Bidapa, with a splashy event at the F-Bar. The line obviously did well and Amanda began to look for more challenges. “ It was Prasad who suggested that I get into men’s wear. He was the one who sold the idea to me and I started out small in the beginning,” reveals Amanda. “ Not that I gave up my women’s line, but today I have a 50-50 focus on both men and women’s wear.”

Amanda took part in the Men’s Fashion Week Castle India at the Palace. She was received very warmly there and that’s when she gained confidence with her Men’s line. This year too she plans to participate. “Once you participate, you are expected to keep participating every year. This year it is for four days in October,” she says.
What’s in for men this season we ask. Promptly, Amanda says, “For this season, cotton lycra for shirts and lots of prints are all the rage. Lots of dress shirts and French cuffs are in. The contrast look too is back with tone on tone or self prints with details on shirts. Pleats, pin-tucks, rouching are big on the dress shirt scene. I have also done several shirts with yokes which are very popular. I have a weakness for white so I use white everywhere and strangely white is something you cannot go wrong with. Dress shirts with satin silk in subtle colours too are big on the wedding scene for the groom.”

Amanda uses a lot of aqua blue, beige, browns and pinks in her collection for men. Red is also a colour for men, but its used innocuously in the inner collar, for piping or just to create an accent.  “ I also do a lot of tailored to order trousers as well with stretch fabric. The very tapered silhouette is in for men and no ready made garment can give the required fit,” she says.

Adventurous
What Amanda finds interesting is that her men customers leave everything to her. They are not fussy and picky and are very open to her ideas. “Today’s man wants to look good and is adventurous and is willing to avoid playing safe. They give you a lot more freedom to be creative than women do!” she says.
Right now for women Amanda says she has used a lot of blues, beiges, pinks, reds, browns and khakis for her collection. “ Tunics are in and are worn like mine,” she says, pointing to her very feminine white princess cut tunic, worn with tights or capris. “ The tunic length is in between the length of a regular blouse and a dress. They are perfect for Indian women who are not comfortable with exposing their hips. Empire or the low waist lines look best with tunics.”

Amanda is happy that today the young Indian male is keen on looking good. “ Just like women check out a new outfit for a show or a party, men are doing the same today. No just rummaging in their wardrobes and pulling out old stuff to wear.

They also are picky about their accessories like good shoes an expensive watch, belts and ever so often I am dragged out to help choose them,” she reveals with a laugh.