Ritu Kumar's Fashion Show at the HDIL India Couture Week Ritu Kumar, one of India?s foremost designers, has developed a unique style of her own, reflecting the ancient traditions of Indian craftsmanship in a contemporary vocabulary. With a background in art history and museology, which has enriched her horizons, Ritu's understanding of ancient designs and the innovative use of traditional crafts has created a new classicism. Ritu holds the status of a revivalist in the Indian fashion industry, who has successfully bridged the gap between traditionalism and modernity. However, her work today has gone much beyond revival it is constantly evolving within an aesthetic that is sophisticated both in the eastern and western sense, with each of her collections making a contemporary statement in a fast changing modern India. Ritu, who began her work with four hand-block printers and two tables, in a small village near Calcutta thirty five years ago, was the first woman to introduce the 'boutique' culture in India under the brand name 'Ritu'. Today she has outlets in all major cities in India. Ritu's boutiques feature a multifaceted showcase encompassing the very best of Indian designs, with a specially produced range of high fashion garments and accessories using silk, leather and cotton. Ritu?s range of western and Indian apparel is all about traditions and individual talent, and women across the continents can easily identify with her vision of design. Ritu has gone a long way to redefining the term fashion in the Indian context. Most importantly, she has demonstrated that the products made by hand can be as profitable as and even more glamorous than that of machine, and that Indian fashion is more than capable of holding its own in the international arena of haute couture. Her design philosophy is based on the premise that everything founded on a good aesthetic cuts across all borders geographical, cultural or otherwise. This very aesthetic is the factor central to the Indian handwriting which underlies her creations. While Ritu?s forte lies in traditional Indian clothes that draw heavily on the textile and embroidery heritage of India, and remain classics of their kind, she has evolved another style for the young buyer, a collection that, in her words, has redefined traditional handwriting to meet the changing needs of the new generation. The inspiration for these garments come from basic Indian motifs,
