Recently Pantone (Pantone Inc, world’s color authority from 45 years) forecasted the Color of the Year for 2010, which is an inviting and luminous hue PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise (vibrant blue-green). Combining the serene qualities of blue and the invigorating aspects of green, Turquoise inspires thoughts of soothing, tropical waters and a comforting escape from the everyday troubles of the world, while at the same time restoring our sense of wellbeing.

Other colors that will be seen in 2010 are – Turquoise — Pantone 15-5519 (vibrant blue-green)
Tomato Purée (classic red), Fusion Coral (warm orange), Violet (light purplish hue), Tuscany (warm beige), Aurora (slightly greenish yellow), Amparo Blue (a warmer navy), Pink Champagne (delicate pale neutral), Dried Herb (green neutral) and Eucalyptus (practical gray).

So will turquoise rule in India in coming year 2010? For sure, it is a surprisingly versatile color. It looks great with white, make an awesome contrast with Indian orange and red and with green make a cooler combination. It can work with just about any other color and in any style of décor.
In fashion; it will definitively make you stand different. It’s strong enough for men but delicate enough for women. Remember the Men ties in turquoise color making bold statement, now a days bride want to try new colors apart from clichéd red and getting dressed in turquoise color lehnga is very trendy.
Anyway, turquoise can be used as an accent color- From draping a scarf around neck to hanging in turquoise in ears. Turquoise, an opaque, blue-to-green mineral and very popular gemstone combination with silver jewelry.

Hope to see more of turquoise in India, that will surely cool down the recession fever.

It is clear more than 50% parents think that they will decide the career for child and only 15% thought they could decide their career by themselves. 60% thinks a child herself can decide the career better.

48% thinks that they were forced to go ahead with career decided by their parents. While 30% refused to pursue what was told by their parents, 60% pursued a different career from what they thought in their childhood.

Choosing a different career option which is less known is not a problem among 62%, which came as a pleasant surprise. But when asked, will a foreign degree help in career 35% said no, it would not and 29% said it might help them.

Our take: It is important for one to decide their career wisely rather than depending on someone else’s choice. All the best!

A career in Design!

As kids we are often asked, what would you like to become in future and we proudly say doctor or engineer. But as soon we enter the competitive world, right from school grades to college toppers, our choices and tastes differ. We recognize our weakness and strength.
Today, Trendiya is focusing on a career in Design. Some are born creative and some feel that a little bit of understanding of the subject will give them chance to be a professional designer. But when we say Design, we are often misunderstood for fashion design! Yes, that’s a common thinking in the middle class families of tier 2 cities. If you say, you are pursuing a career in design they will say, oh, fashion designing, please stitch a dress for my nephew wedding too! Or at the maximum they will understand about interior design, something that will help a girl to get a good groom when looking for wedding proposals.

Design is a highly creative, imaginative field with an eye for details, precision, that involves exploring new materials and sorting out a problem. It could be either Industrial design (product, transportation, toys, glass & ceramic design), communication design (graphic, film & video or animation), IT integrated design (new media, software user interface design), Fashion & Textile (Fashion & apparel, textile, accessories design) or Exhibition & Retail design or designing for Craft sector. Many more new specializations are coming up. Like design management is one of the most sought after lucrative career in corporate world.

NIFT, one of the most sought after institutes in India and with maximum number of centres (total 13) all over, NIFT offers B Des. in Fashion, leather, accessory, textile, knitwear design and also in fashion communication & Apparel production. Master programs in design, Fashion management and Fashion Technology are also offered. For details check www.nift.ac.in

The other one is National Institute of Design (NID), one of the foremost multi-disciplinary institutions in the field of design education and research. It has undergraduate & post graduate programmes and admission is through entrance test, followed by Studio test + interview. It has centres in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Bangalore and few more are coming up. Check the site www.nid.edu and apply before due date- 20 nov.!

Other institutes are Shristi (Bangalore), Pearl academy of fashion (New Delhi), Indian institute of crafts & design (Jaipur), Footwear design & development institute (Noida) and Symbiosis institute of Design (Pune). DJ Academy, Coimbatore and Indian Institute of Technology also offers specialization in Design like IITD, IDC and IIT Guwahati.

The general skills required are: Creativity, imagination, drawing & sketching, Color sensitivity, visual perception, material handling, representation techniques, Context building, communication skills, problem-solving skills, general awareness and computer skills.

A good news!- If you are design enthusiast student and going to apply for a design institute you can write to team trendiya for ‘how to prepare’.

Fashion week in India is not a new thing but what is special this time was it being a solely men’s fashion week and it will definitely play a significant role in positioning the Indian fashion market in world. Planning a all-men-fashion-week was in talks from a long time from the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) and after partnership with Van Heusen it is all set to change the dynamics of the Indian fashion landscape.

Van Heusen India Mens Week’ was held in New Delhi on September 11 – 13, 2009 at The Grand and featured 15 shows by 21 designers.
Brands like Reid and Taylor, and Raymonds are exclusive men’s fashion brands, but if one wants to opt for a designer label, the choices are restricted to bridal wear only. But many still feel that Indians are not ready for men’s fashion so what if John Abraham started selling fairness cream and Shahrukh Khan doesn’t mind sitting in bath tub to sell bathing soaps. Mainly because fashion design happens only for weddings in our country, that is why bridal wear is such a big thing. Though the branded men’s apparel segment is growing at 15 per cent and retail industry for men’s apparel is five times bigger than the women’s apparel segment in India (am sure this is news for many).

Sunil Sethi, President, FDCI elaborated on the need for an independent forum for men’s fashion- “Men are active participants and contributors to the growth of fashion today, who have moved beyond deciding their favourite colour of ties and socks to actually cultivating loyalties for designers and lifestyle brands. Menswear dominates a larger per cent of branded apparel sales in the country and is said to be growing at a CAGR of 15%. The ‘Van Heusen India Mens Week’ aims to give menswear designers a structured impetus and the much needed platform to tap this potential of men’s fashion in India.”

India’s first men fashion week began with Ravi Bajaj’s collection. Apart from quality to excellence, the unique feature of his collection was the silhouettes that has evolved from hard edged eighties executive style to the much softer, in touch with soul look that is so trendy these days.

Rohit Bal launched The Badmaash collection depicting the naughty and flirtatious nature of a man and celebrating life in a wicked manner. In his words “The collection is very moody, vivacious, and self-obsessive. It revolves around the theme – I, me and myself,”

Designer Rocky S used skin friendly fabrics like cottons, viols and linen. The collection was replete with colours like beige, ivory and blacks. And his inspiration was – It’s about me looking for freedom in my clothes. It’s about spiritualism in my clothes, so everything is very relaxed and very confident. His collection has stylish jackets, lean pants in exaggerated length.
Actor Dino Morea and cricketer Anil Kumble were showstopper for designer Manoviraj Khosla. Kumble walked the ramp 1st time and admitted that he is learning few things from younger generation of cricketers specially in fashion.

Talk of the event was Greek god look of Shantanu & Nikhil’s collection which has Grecian drapes in silk velvets. Also the man purse, a leather tote or anything sling was an essential accessory for men.

Salman Khan walked in a creation by designers Ashish Soni and Rohit Gandhi & Rahul Khanna on the Grand finale day of ‘Van Heusen India Mens week’. Ashish Soni showcased his collection ‘On the Run’ in the first part, which was inspired by the film Don. And style gurus Rohit & Rahul decided to go eco-friendly and presented soothing collection ‘Hypernature’.

Image source: Van Heusen India Mens Week 2009