'Bangaloreans are willing to spend more'

Changing Market

Bangalore-based designer Kamal Raj Manickath, who was in the City recently, spoke to Metrolife.

“I wanted to create something that isn’t available in the market, that’s why I showcased a lot of gowns that were traditional and Western in look. I have used all the experience I have gathered in the last seven years to create the collection,” he says.  “People wear gowns at all events. Indian designers now have a good market in the West. I have done a lot of work for the Indo-Western collection,” he adds. He recently started a boutique and is doing well for himself. “I got a lot of feedback on the colours, fabrics and designs that people would want and I realised there is gap that we need to fill,” he says. “Bangaloreans are willing to spend more these days if they find good stuff so we need to bring good fashion here so that people can invest in it,” he adds. 

He plans to open up three more stores in the City in the coming months. “We have been doing customised gowns till now, but I plan to expand to ready-made wear as well,” he adds. Kamal says he has always been an artist but became a fashion designer after he forayed into it by chance. “I started making dresses for my friends and they liked it. I thought I’d give it a go but I didn’t get a job as a designer anywhere.” But now, he has worked himself up the ladder. 

According to him, a designer does not need to be trained from a well-known design school to make it in the industry. “It was a challenge when I started out because I didn’t have a degree from NIFT and the Indian market demands for it.

There are many good designers who don’t get a chance because they aren’t from such colleges, so you need to give chances to new designers and not look at their college name. The market has to change this methodology and make an effort to check the portfolio,” he says. 

When people come to him, he advises them, “Many people come into this field just for the glamour so you need to filter out who is capable of doing something and who is not, that is very important. When you come to the market, it doesn’t matter what you have done before that or what you have studied - the first step is really important.”