WEDDING coming up? What to wear...

SUMMER OF LOVE

Sense of spiritual hunger is taking over.  Yoga, Taoist philosophies, Feng shui, therapies not only for the body but more importantly for the mind are promising serenity, calmness, spiritual healing.

It is about balancing the opposite forces of the angels and demons that walk side-by-side pulling us in different direction.  It is about walking on a tight rope between virtue and vice, trying desperately to keep our balance.

Life is complicated.  Love is complicated.  Work is complicated.   Friendship is complicated.  Living in the world we have made so complex, this is the best summer to clean ourselves from inside…rid ourselves of our wardrobes, our desks, and our very lives of harmful clutter.  Dare we suggest we even drawn up a list of poisonous friends and delete them from our universe. And get ready to settle into summer of love?

The Fashion world is giving us the signal… say goodbye to hard-edged modernism and embraces love, embrace innocence and have some fun.  Be decadent, indulgent, move from those sharp edges to a softer focus.  Fashion has taken the hippy route and we recommend we all follow suit…forget about getting your hands on the nature, take the summer off and find yourself once again. 

There is a cultural shift in the Western Hemisphere in reaction to the hard images of men and women.  This shift is about nostalgia in a crazy world, about having a relaxed attitude.  One can perhaps draw a parallel to the late Sixties and early Seventies when in the face of the violence of the Vietnam War; our parents questioned the ethics of this war and looked to love and peace to comfort them.  However, there is a difference: we are too sophisticated and far from innocent to actually become hippies, we’ll just have some fun.

Forget your complication…forget the hard realities and give in to pure escapism this summer.  Fashion is leading the way.  It is like being in denial of the violent world around us, don’t resist it…. for once, give in and enjoy the summer of love.

VERSACE OF INDIA

She's the first Indian designer ever to take charge of a French fashion Blanchard meets Ritu Beri, the Donatella Versace of Bollywood, and uncovers the link between saris and spray-on jeans...

Ritu Beri

Every women- even if she's shy- wants to feel sexy; says Ritu Beri, who has just flown in to Paris from Delhi. 'You don't have to show cleavage or be dramatically obvious about it. You just want to feel that added confidence. The women of today holds her own, and knows her mind; she's not shy to look beautiful.' Ritu speaks in a soft, lilting drawl. Her English is, of course, perfect. She could well be one of the Bollywood stars she dresses, sitting casually in the cool marble-clad interior of her hotel lobby. The designer is in Paris for her first collection for the French fashion house Scherrer.

In February 2002, she was appointment head of the ready-to-wear collection by fashion Svengali Mounir

Moufarrige, CEO of the fledgling luxury Group, and the man who put Stella McCartney in the hot seat at Chlo'e. Moufarrige claims to have misheard Stell's name during the interview (McCarthy, instead of McCartney) and asked her what her father did. The story goes that she replied that he was in music, before asking him if he'd heard of the Beatles. I've picked a lot of designers; he says. 'I don't

look at country, nationality or sex. I look at talent.' But he admits: 'When everybody else was looking at South East Asia, I looked at India. 'It's a big country of music, movies and textiles, a huge country with an enormous population. I was delighted to see how successful Ritu was in India. But there's an opportunity to go beyond those boundaries and become popular worldwide.'

Although Beri is relatively unknown outside of India, She is seriously well connected. Her friends are film stars, socialites and all support her and wear her clothes. Just as stella McCartney's great selling point was her ability to make clothes that she and her friends wanted to wear, so too Beri has a close circle ready to wear her latest designs. In India, she is the first lady of fashion, with a business worth $4.5m. When she designed a particular sleeve a few years ago it was long and slim, runched up around the writs in an imitation of a particular style of traditional pyjama trouser- the rest of India wore it too.

'Today it's one of the most popular sleeves; she says. I think copying is inevitable and it's the biggest compliment.' It's the same with costumes she designs for the cinema. If Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit wears a certain blouse in the movies, then that look becomes really popular.

'You have pictures from magazines in little tailoring shops and everyone wants to wear that blouse.'

It's a bit like teenage girls in the UK rushing out to buy Buffalo boots after seeing them on the Spice Girls. But in India there isn't a TopShop, just thousands of tailors who make the look you want for a fraction of the price. The fashion industry in India is still in its infancy. It only really began in 1990, when the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York set up a sister college in Delhi. We didn't have a clue about fashion; Beri laughs. 'There were no designers.' She first heard some people talking about it over lunch one day and went to find out more. 'They were going to choose 25 students from billion people; she says. I thought: I have to be one of those 25, whatever it takes. I love challenges.  If it's easy, it's not for me.' Needless to say, she was one of the first students on the course, in a makeshift school set up in an old five-star hotel shopping mall. 'We still don't have an established business in terms of shops ordering six months in advance. I think in the next couple of years it will change. We have a few brands, but there is a huge market, and people are just realising that.' As a child, before she had even heard the name Chanel, Beri fantasised about living in Paris. She was used to travelling because her father was a colonel in the army and the family moved from city to city every two years. 'There was a lot of discipline, everything was regimented. My dad's from the old school of the army where it was all about aristocracy.  There was a particular decorum to maintain. You had dinner at a particular time and you had to come dressed in a particular way.

'Rules and more rules, and more rules. I guess I had so much of that, that today I believe in only breaking rules. If jackets have to have three buttons, I say no, I want to give them two.'

Beri spent much of her childhood in Kashmir and has happy memories of it.   'Unfortunately, now it's a wreck, but it is the most beautiful state in India. My memories from childhood are horses, beautifully dressed men in uniforms - really, really elegant men- lots of parties. My mother is a very beautiful women, gorgeous. She always had beautiful chiffons with pearls, very elegant.'

Beri's grandfather was a doctor with the World Health Organisation, and at first she intended following in his footsteps. It was the week before her interview for the National Institute of Fashion and Technology and she had to sit an entrance exam to medical school. 'I left my papers blank and came home; she recalls. 'I just didn't want to be a doctor suddenly. If I'd passed, I'd have had to go through with it.' luckily, she was offered a place at NIFT and her future seemed to fall into place.

'In India; says Beri, 'things have changed today- but everything was a stopover until you got married. But my parents had a rebel in the family. They kind of knew the more they'd say no to me, the more I'd want it, so they stopped.' Her one brother now works in the company too, looking after business and production.

Beri launched her own company within six months of leaving college. It began with friends wanting to order clothes she had made for herself, until eventually she opened her own shop in Delhi.

In 1999, she launched her label at the Paris haute couture shows, with help and encouragement from her mentor, the French embroidery master Francois Lesage. Beri had noticed his name in Vogue and decided she had to meet him.  'I had no idea where he lived, or what he did. I just knew that he was an embroiderer. I got myself to Paris and called him again and again and I'd never get him on the line.'

Eventually he answered her call. 'I said: "I'm dying to see you, you're my god." He said: "Don't die, come to my atelier." It's like a line from a Bollywood musical. She spent time training with him, and he even invited her to the couture shows and gave her all his tickets. In 200o, she moved to a ready-to-wear slot on the Paris calendar and found backing from Mounir Moufarrige. She is the first designer from the Sub-Continent to show on the Paris runways. She will continue showing her own label in Paris, as well as her collection for Scherrer.  Her collection is produced in India.  'I'm very fortunate to have the best of both worlds; sheh says. 'The basic form is the sari, which is just fabric that's wound around.   It's not so much geared up to tailoring. But we have so many handicrafts you can't get anywhere else in the world.' It's no secret that designers such as Dries Van Noten to Matthew Williamson and Jean Paul Gaultier use embroiderers and beaders in India to weave magic into their designs. The clothes Beri designs for the Indian market are different from the Western collection she makes for the rest of the world. Nicole Kidman, who commissioned Beri to make dresses for the premieres of Eyes Wide Shut and Moulin Rouge, like a taste of India rather than a full -blown sari. 'In India, I do Indian clothes; Beri says. 'The whole psyche of the Indian woman is that she will spend more money on Indian clothes than Western clothes.'

Bandhani bridal outfit

Wedding are big business, not least because they last for a week. 'I think the Indian wedding dress is the most expensive garment that gets sold the world over.' They spend anything from 500,000 rupees (more than £7,000) for a normal wedding dress. 'They are working on an Indian version of Hello! as of now.' says Beri. The wedding of film stars alone will keep it afloat.  'For all formal occasions, women are obliged to wear Indian clothes.

'It's normally a full skirt, embroidered with a short blouse with the midriff showing and a very big scarf. Three pieces. You show your stomach.'

Sometimes she plays with tradition and exchanges a shirt for the blouse, or changes the way the scarf is tied to make it more modern. As they get more used to the idea of designer fashion, women are beginning to be a bit more adventurous. 'Women are changing in India and that's reflected in the way they dress. At nightclubs you could be anywhere in the world the way young women are dressing.' Beri herself is dressed in a pair off spray-on jeans decorated with jewels - very rock chick. 'When I started, I had to follow my customer's demands. They wanted to see what everyone else had worn and then they'd wear it. Today they want to set the trends.' And with a flick of her crystal hair extensions, she's off to the atelier on the outskirts of Paris. Her limo is waiting. Ritu Beri has arrived.

More fashion in store

RITU's amazing collection was available at Selfridges in London earlier in the year, which also displayed the work of other Indian designers, including...

ROHIT BAL Inspired by folklore, Rohit is popular with Western celebrities including Uma Thurman and Cindy Crawford. He creates voluminous, tiered crinkle-silk skirts, long quilted coats and intricate appliqué details.

AKI NARULA: His collection features extensive appliqué details on shirts and clever beading. His shirting is gathered at the waist and cuff to give a more Western feel.

RAJESH PRATAP SINGH He studied in Italy and is one of the first designers to export to the West. His lightweight pin-tucked linen shirts for men and women are ideal for hot summer nights.

MONISHA JAISING Her metallic lace and antique sari effects create a collection with a vintage feel. Denim suede and Lurex replace traditional silks, but she keeps Indian emblems of elephants stars and goddesses visible across her skirts and tops.

OGAAN: A family -run couture house that provides a platform for up-and-coming young talent. The collection, which is sold in their popular shop in Delhi,  consists of sari tops and silk brocade skirts.

RINA DHAKA Starting 15 years ago, she is best know for sheer trouser and her crochet and spiderweb motifs. Her latest collection has images from old Bollywood posters and mythical imagery plus video stills on funky T- shirts, skirts and dresses.

More info from Selfridges (020 7629 1234).