Chennai: “You are always on a holiday if you love what you are doing,” said fashion designer Manish Malhotra, speaking at an event organised by FICCI FLO ladies organisation here Sunday.
He delivered a talk on ‘Adventures of Fashion’, which was moderated by former Miss India International Shvetha Jaishankar.
Speaking about how he ventured into fashion designing, he said, “I didn’t study designing, I was into sketching and was fascinated with colours and movies. But I spent my entire childhood in a theatre watching films. I didn’t study and I was in a theatre. My parents also encouraged it. It is that fascination for colours and films that got me into clothes. And that’s why I chose costume designing.”
Manish, who ventured into modelling in the early part of his career, also spoke about how he switched to fashion designing. “My mother was very clear that since I watch lot of films, I either become an actor
or do something with films. So, I ventured into modelling. At the time there was no course for men in fashion designing and films too were very disorganised in terms of fashioning. There weren’t a lot of
different designers. So, I took up a job in a boutique to learn about clothes. Since I did not study modelling, I thought I should take it seriously.”
The 52-year-old designer, who has been in the industry for 30 years now, is all set to launch his label M.
Speaking about it, he said, “One thing that kept me going in life was work and I never fear failures. Now there is a lot more to do with my label and less with films. The look of the industry is changing and there is a lot of acceptance to new things than it was five years ago.”
He also said he was producing a web series under his banner Manish Malhotra Productions. “It is about the fashion life, behind the stage. We will soon get into casting.”
He spoke about his love for Kancheepuram silks and wants actors to promote it while walking the red carpet instead of wearing gowns. “I love Kanchi and Banarasi silks. I strongly feel actors should wear it on the red carpet,” he said.
Manish’s advice to young designers and stylists was: “I think today there is so much talent out there but with social media, one must stand out. They have to be very clear in what they are doing. One must be fearless, committed and work hard.”