Manish Malhotra : My 30 Years In The Industry Stands For Patience, Resilience…

Veteran fashion designer Manish Malhotra who will be completing 30 years in costumes designing this year says his journey of three decades stands for focus, patience, resilience and evolving with time.

When he entered the Bollywood fashion industry, he wanted to change the way how 90s movies used to look like but never thought of starting his own label which completes 15 years this month.

“I think in the map of Indian fashion, I have a very unique space and the only designer to have that kind of space because I am self-taught. I came with an absolute passion for Hindi films and I came from observing them. I wanted to change the way movies were in the early 90s. And I thought it was going to be only about movies. When I got into movies, it was all about revolutionizing it, wanting to change it, the process of bringing that strong fashion or style quotient in it. It was something I stepped into it with. Initially, it was a struggle to get people to understand that it’s not just about a garment but about the entire look. The process took time, took a lot of hard work, many hours of work and a lot of patience to prove it by your job. All the hard work evolved into me starting a label – something which I never ever thought of.”

The designer who has styled the who’s who of Bollywood has worked with “four generation of actors”, the latest being Jaahnvi Kapoor, Tara Sutaria, Sara Ali Khan and Ananya Panday among others. He, however, feels that even though it is important to match up with the high pace of today’s generation, it is also important to maintain one’s belief.

“Today, I’m working with a generation which is so high-tech, so fast. Everything is instant. Everything is now. You see a garment, you post it right now. The fate of it is decided right then. It’s the same for a movie. It’s a hit or a flop, everybody’s discussing everything. However, I think it’s very important to maintain your belief. It is always something that my 30 years of yet being around has taught me.”“This is the fourth generation of actors and the fourth generation of actors that I’m working with. My 30 years in the industry stands for patience, it stands for hard work, it stands for resilience, it stands for focus. More than anything else, it also stands for evolving, it also stands for moving with time. Even for my label, which this July completes 15 years, this is an important year of moving even further in terms of whether craft whether it is a cut,” Malhotra told IANSlife on the sidelines of the 15th Blenders Pride Fashion Tour, held in Hyderabad, where he presented his first collection of the year.