Indian govt confers Padma Shri to veteran fashion designer

20 Apr '13

2 min read

The veteran Indian fashion designer Ritu Kumar has been conferred Padma Shri Award 2013, the country’s fourth highest civilian honor for her exceptional and distinguished service in the field of fashion, textile and craftsmanship by the honorable President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The 69-year-old veteran designer is one of India’s foremost fashion designers known to the world for her unique style, reflecting the ancient traditions of Indian craftsmanship in a contemporary vocabulary.

While Ritu Kumar’s forte lies in traditional Indian clothes that draw heavily on the textile and embroidery heritage of India, she has also evolved another style for the young buyers, a collection that in her words has “redefined traditional handwriting to meet the changing needs of the new generation”.

Ritu Kumar as a brand has been admired and worn all over the world, including by international celebrities such as the late Princess Diana, Mischa Barton and Anoushka Shankar as well as Bollywood stars such as Aishwarya Rai, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta and Dia Mirza to name a few.

Since 1994, Ritu Kumar has also designed the wardrobes for the Miss India contestants for their participation in international beauty pageants such as Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss Asia Pacific. An impressive number of winners have emerged from amongst these contestants putting India on the beauty map.

In 2002 Ritu Kumar, joined by her son Amrish, launched a sub brand – Label, Ritu Kumar. This is aimed at the young global Indian woman with a contemporary lifestyle.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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