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Made in Italy

Amitabh Bachchan with Akbar Shahpurwala

I am definitely not dressed for this occasion.

Feeling awkward, I shot a quick look at my crumpled clothes. Then, a slow look around.

Classic, clean architectural lines. Polished wood and dull gold. Muted tones of light. And designer brands that made one drool. Well, at least the window was drably dressed. Limp styling. While I was staring at the buzzing sales assistants, she walked up to me. Tailored slacks and a blazer, perfect accessories, perfect hair. "Can I help you..."

I knew I should've worn the other skirt.

I was at gabbana, the fashion store. Housing men's clothing and accessories created by the 'in' Italian designers. Gianfranco Ferre, Verri, Versace, Umberto Bilancioni, Pal Zileri. And yes, these are the original-made-in-Italy, the final word on style. And no, they are not the back of the rack stuff - they are this

Polished wood, muted lights, designer clothes

season's look.

Hmm. Italian brands. Formal and casual. Available in India. The latest looks, the classic cuts, the incomparable material. What more could one ask for?

But there is more. Take a look at the prices. And blink.

Is it for real? Sure. Located at Breach Candy, Bombay, this fashion house is the first of its kind.

Which brings us to the who, the what, the when, the why and the how? Perfect Hair, who turns out to be the PR lady, introduces me to Akbar Shahpurwala, chairman and MD, gabbana. I have precisely 15 minutes to shoot my questions.

Where did it all start? "I've been in the fashion industry for years," says Shahpurwala. "I started out 28 years ago with a boutique called Elegant at Mohammad Ali road. We designed clothes for a lot of films, including movies like Bobby and Dhun."

gabbana's casual look

Shahpurwala went on to train in fashion designing at the Patrick Sheffield School, England. Post return, he realised that Elegant was not located in a very good area, so he decided to start a new shop in a different place. Kachins at Tardeo opened shortly after, and was instantly successful.

With Kachins doing so well, why did he decide to leave? "I left Kachins two years ago to start gabbana. What with liberalisation and the opening up of the Indian market, I felt constricted at Kachins. There was no space for growth. I needed to venture out."

The new venture revolved around starting a fashion house with the help of foreign designers. Convincing them to retail was the next step. According to Sameena Shahpurwala, PR, gabbana, this was a major task. 'Designers abroad are extremely brand conscious, and very particular about retailing their clothes. Although they realised the Indian market has tremendous potential, they were hesitant about bringing their stuff in. It wasn't simply a business venture for them, what they were looking for is a tie-up with someone who was fashion educated. And my father, with his personal experience as a designer, fit the bill perfectly."

Italian fastidiousness demanded a training period of three months in Italy, where Shahpurwala went through an orientation programme on the tailoring and marketing of their clothes.

gabbana opened in April. On display is a range of designer products chosen by Shahpurwala at the previews in Italy, as well as custom made tailoring which he designs himself. You can find the complete

The formal range

collection or "Looks" by Versace, Verri, Ferre, Bilancioni and Zileri as well as the assorted designer products of Goose & Gander, Armani, Hugo Boss, Iceberg and others.

Which brought one to the ubiquitous question - what section of society does gabbana cater to? "Everyone," says Shahpurwala, with a sniff, "shops at gabbana. People just walk in and pick up stuff. We also have a fixed clientele. Amitabh Bachchan, Adi Godrej, Manu Chabbria and the Ambanis shop here on a regular basis. And, yes, we have a large film clientele."

Interestingly, 30 per cent of his customers are women, who come in to select clothes for their menfolk. "Women," Sameena adds, "are more fashion educated than men, though the men are definitely taking an interest in their own attire." And she summed it up gabbana's client profile with a "People who want to wear the best and can afford it."

Sure, I want to wear the best too. But can I afford it?

"The foreign designer clothes we have," points out Shahpurwala in a decidedly determined fashion, "are available at rates

Formal 'n' casual mix

that are 15 to 20 per cent cheaper than the international market." He's got to be joking!

"We're not looking at immediate huge profits," he continues seriously. "We're interested in some kind of incentive to people who shop abroad so that they will want to buy the same stuff here."

"If we have an extremely high price range," Sameena adds, "then we'll have too select a clientele. The idea is to make these brand names accessible to as many people as possible."

She continues with a laugh, "The profit margins were low enough to shock the Italian designers, but it's paying off. A lot of people who browse here find the clothes very reasonable, especially the casual stuff. Students going abroad, foreigners on a stopover in the city, all of them are pleasantly surprised."

Imagine picking up a Ferre or Versace suit for Rs 20,000 (on the lower side). Definitely value for money. Yet, the operative word here is money - lots of it. Is the Indian customer savvy enough to spend such big bucks?

More fashion wear

"The Indian public," says Sameena, "is extremely well versed as far as fashion labels, both Indian and international, are concerned. Most shoppers are aware of the brands, others want to be made aware. Also, there's a huge demand for foreign designer clothes."

Seema Kakkar, business manager, Glitterati, another fashion house in Bombay, disagrees. "People in India are not willing to spend money on labels yet, and the foreign designers I've interacted with are apprehensive. Right now designer wear is too elite, it will take time to achieve the sales they're looking at on an international level." She feels that it is not only the Indian buyer who is hesitant. "People who convert rupees into dollars are unwilling to spend that kind of money, even if its cheaper. Since they live abroad, they don't see the point in shopping for the same kind of stuff here."

Designer-choreographer Hemant Trivedi has a different point of view, though. "Today," he pointed out, "every one is extremely brand conscious and willing to buy things. Unfortunately, the label has become the final word with us. Just a designer label is enough for most people. While on trips abroad, models spend huge amounts of money on the 'in' designers and it's fashionable to sport sunglasses with the little emblems in the corner. Even

Genuine designer wear

designer rip-offs are doing extremely well - imagine, you can buy Chanel or YSL at Kalbadevi." The success of gabbana, he felt, would ultimately depend on the merchandise they actually bring down.

Glitterati also houses both Indian and foreign designers. Although Sameena claimed, "The Italian clothes at Glitterati are at least six months old," Seema countered, "It is not as though we pan off old clothes to our customers. We haven't stocked up on foreign clothing because we're officially tying up with Valentino, the Italian designer, this October. Right now, we're concentrating on that."

It does seem as if the international look, which began with a whimper (remember the Pierre Cardin disaster?), is recovering with a bang. What does that mean for the Indian designer? "Local fashion," felt Shahpurwala, "is very different from world fashion. We are far more conservative in our approach, restricted in our styling. We don't have enough occasions to design for - we're limited to corporate, evening and marriage styling."

gabbana has no plans to house Indian designers in the future. "Calvin Klein and Tommy Hill Finger are our next investments. Besides, the next year will see us getting into ladies clothing and accessories. No," affirmed Shahpurwala, "I'm not interested in Indian designers."

Sameena adds, "Our service is to bring international fashion to India. We are a niche business. And there are other stores in the city housing Indian designers. Besides, who does western designs in India today?"

Pretty loaded statement, considering that eight Indian designers are on there way to Igedo this September to represent India in the world's largest fashion fair. Sangeeta Desai, one of the chosen eight, railed at the unfairness of Sameena's statement. "I think it's very unfair of them to say they don't know of Indian designers who are doing western wear. Just because we lack the infrastructure, it doesn't mean we lack the talent."

Hemant feels the same way, "Shahab Durazi's clothes are on par with those created by any international designer. We have excellent designers, what we don't have is the same quality of material and craftsmanship."

Seema adds, "Indian designers probably feel that a western line is too much of an investment, considering that the demand isn't very great."

It suddenly occurred to me that doing a piece on a fashion house can be terribly complicated, especially when one looks at it from a larger perspective. gabbana is the first fashion house of its kind, and will probably set the trend for many more.

Which reminds me - the next time I decide to profile a fashion house, I'd better do some shopping first.