Fashion and dress-designing goes in tandem with professional ramp modeling. In India ramp modeling has come of age with a rapidly growing genre of professional ramp models, both male and female, making a mark in domestic as well as international arenas. Madhu Sapre, Helen Brodie, Bipasha Basu, Nayanika Chatterjee, Nina Manuel, Annie Thomas, Anupama Verma, Liza Ray, Malaika Arora, Maria Goretti, Meher Jesia, Namrata Barua, Sheetal Mallar, Sherie Meher Homji, Sonali Rosario and Ujwala Rawat are among the leading female models of India while Milind Soman, Andrew Piers, Arjun Rampal, Atul Wokulu, Himanshu Malik, Marc Robinson, Rahul Dev and Rohit Ticu are among the leading male models.

Now more and more leading fashion designers like Ritu Beri, Rina Dhaka and others are concentrating on Indian wear and trying to revive India's glorious fabric and design traditions. As the best of designs, motifs, themes and skilled craftsmen are available in India and Indian fabrics and styles are best suited for the country, such efforts seem quite logical. As a result we find more and more men and women adopting the swadeshi clothes and designs. The Sherwanis, Jodhpuris, Nehru jackets, shawls and Kurta-pyjamas have all sprung back as the "latest designer-wear" among men. Similar revival is evident in womens costumes. Several Indian designers are also launching ranges that are easy on the pocket of ordinary masses. The Indian designers are also found to take up social themes like the cause of environment in their designer wear.

Today the fashion designers from India have created a lasting impression on the world market and boast of clients in the Middle East, UK and USA. Ravi Bajaj has designed various fashion lines for export houses targeting the US and European markets. Ritu Beri has an outlet at the prestigious Regent Street in London and in New Jersey in U.S.A. Indian designers like Gitanjali Kashyap, Rohit Bal and others frequently participate in fashion shows abroad. Interestingly an Indian shawl and a salwar-kameez ensemble, created by leading Mumbai couturiers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, fomed part of the exotic wardrobe of French actress Sophie Marceau in the latest James Bond adventure.

For those who have not known this, after China, India has maintained the position of being the second largest job-worker for international brands. It is the largest exporter of garments. But, the scene is different today; as the nation has a closet of fashion designers who are also creating trends across the globes, instead of letting India simply follow world trends. While the western fashion of jeans and skirts seem to dominate the scene, yet the traditional salwar kameez, chudidar kameez and sari, continue to be a primary theme in India's fashion. In fact, Indian fashion designers have created a new category of clothing, which is showcased as the indo-western line or collection of clothing. In this collection the designer blends the dominant trend of the western world into the Indian dress.

Fashion Industry Trends

Fashion has been in existence and eminence for over 5000 years. And yet, it changes perhaps everyday. Transformation of fashion trends as a function of social status is an area of much interest and consequence. The distribution of demand for fashion clothing accessories across different levels of society aids the allocation of resources and positions of fashion in the market accordingly.

Eco Boom taps Pret a Couture: The current spurt of economic growth in India has no doubt affected the fashion scene. The rise of the awareness and purchasing power of the middle-class has resulted due to the boom in the service industry. This can be co-related to the current revolution in retail. Consumers today have money to spend and to spend it wisely. The chasm between designer and high street is fast disappearing. Thus expectations for quality are on rise. Demand is now for fashion that returns value for money and yet is novel. This need is being fulfilled by the rapid expansion in organized retail segment. Thus a strong pulse to acknowledge is Couture meets Prt drive fuelled by the increasing demand for designer fashion at reasonable costs. Retailers are now experimenting with Prt a couture.

Global village to international brands: The "global" scenario in the economic perspective has altered fashion. International fashion brands like MANGO, GUESS etc entering the Indian market and selling at premium prices comparable to those in the west. Hence this is giving a competitive push to the local brands to improvise on product, pricing, packaging etc. This Global exchange is one of the many driving forces that accentuate the growth of brand awareness in India.