Pearl Academy Graduates Showcase Their Final Collections at PORTFOLIO ‘06

~ Hon’ble Minister Renuka Chowdhury honours awardees~
~ Actress Isha Koppikar walks the ramp ~
~ KK Jalan unveils Alam Parvez Khan’s book on ‘Menswear Patternmaking’

New Delhi, December 15, 2006: Get set to put your foot in the door of style and experience fashion at its best! Pearl Academy of Fashion presents Portfolio ’06 – the final presentation of the Fashion Design students. Hon’ble Smt. Renuka Chowdhury – Union Minister of State for Women & Child Development graced the occasion as the Chief Guest and presented the awards to students for best collections in various categories. Actress Isha Koppikar graced the evening by walking the ramp wearing the Best Design collection.

Mr. KK Jalan, Secretary General, Apparel Export Promotion Council launched the book – Menswear Patternmaking - written by Alam Pervez Khan, Senior faculty at Pearl Academy of Fashion, New Delhi. Mr Khan is a trained pattern and garment technologist from Ichinomiya, JAPAN and Nottingham Trent University, UK. This book is primarily designed for beginners and for the industry personnel who want to upgrade their learning in Menswear Patternmaking.

Portfolio ‘06 highlighted student’s creativity and honored those who excelled in the field of fashion designing and technology. Sponsored by House of Pearl Fashions Limited, the collections were exhibited by renowned models like Sonalika Sahay Jesse Randhawa, Tina Chatwal, Nethra Raghuraman, Natasha Suri, and Megha Kawale among others. Adding glitz and glamour to the show was a very talented and sensuous actress Isha Koppikar.

Over 220 ensembles were displayed on the ramp, and there was a mix of men and women’s clothes. But most of the students chose to make their design statement, through mainly women’s wear. There is a sprinkle of men’s wear collections with one collection for teen boys wear in the repertoire of individual expressions ranging from experimentation with rust and decomposition of fabrics to structured jackets, depiction of surrealist art, to street wear for Indian youth, fashion for older women group finally.

The batch of FDT 2003-06 is equally packed with talented, bold, innovative and enterprising young designers itching to start off on the road to the world outside the confines of the safe walls.

Congratulating the students, Hon’ble Minister Shrimati Renuka Chowdhury said “ The time has come when we should start promoting Indian products and fashion. Since fashion has a huge international market, our designers should get the necessary exposure. We have a good presence in Europe but not as much in the US. It’s time to market Indian fashion and textiles to a global audience."

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Deepak Seth, Chairman – Pearl Academy of Fashion said “We at Pearl Academy of Fashion have constantly encouraged original thinking and innovativeness. Portfolio 06 is a platform to reward the efforts students have put during their academic tenure and holistically addressed the emerging needs of the fashion sector.”

Mr. A K G Nair, Group Director – Pearl Academy of Fashion added “There is a lot of excitement and interest in the Indian fashion design industry from both domestic and global target audience. Hence, it becomes imperative to concentrate on the Fashion element and so our students have emphasised on detailing of their creations along with models and Hair & Make up etc. Each student’s collection is unique and it just shows the students’ dedication towards their work. I wish all the students all the best in their future endeavors.”

The Portfolio show for the first time was choreographed and managed by faculty and students of Pearl Academy of Fashion.

Excited and enthralled by the collection, actor Isha Koppikar said “I am glad to be associated with such an event. It was a pleasure wearing and walking the ramp with collection of the student of PAF. India is an ocean of talent and only on occasions like these we manage to witness such talents. I would love to invite some of these students to design something for me.”