New interpretation to cotton

The pan-India contest, which kicked off last year, saw more response than the first two seasons put together. There were about 184 entries from Bangalore, of which three were selected for the finals.

On the occasion, designer Prasad Bidapa said, “I had a wonderful time judging the Bangalore regional round and the level of creativity was astounding. The new generation of designers certainly have the vision to breathe new life into an old favourite like cotton. Bangalore is the biggest pret capital of the country and we need to produce youngsters who can create great global winners, not just saris and ghagras,” he added.

Also present was designer Deepika Govind, who was one of the judges on the panel. “With the rise of eco-friendly fibres and environmental issues, it seems more important now than ever to promote cotton as a fibre and as a fashion textile,” she said.

She added that the quality of participation in the competition this year has improved. “The kids are taking the entire competition very seriously. The theme of love was interpreted in many ways by all the contestants. There was use of dark shades, reds and every other colour possible since love is seen in different ways by different people,” she added.

The event also had the presence of Nicole Faria, who won the Miss Earth pageant recently. She was also all praises for cotton. “I cannot imagine my wardrobe without cotton. It is one of the oldest textiles in the country. It is a heritage textile and we have witnessed some distinctive designs created by young designers,” she said.

The top three winners from Bangalore were Govind Kumar Singh, Sachi S and Srineth S. All three of them seemed pretty excited about being selected and were keen on expanding their creativity in the finals. A piece that received a lot of attention from everyone present was the green jacket made by Govind, which took him to the top of the contest. Made from recycled threads, it was an absolute favourite and Nicole also modelled in the jacket. “The jacket is a great example of combining ethical fashion and eco-friendly fashion,” said Prasad Bidapa.