Fashion & design institutes 'trend' with placements.

While the economy economy has not shown robust growth this fiscal, human resource consultants are seeing direct impact on jobs in 'niche' roles, fashion technology, design institutes have seen good placements

Rajeev Garg, a 20-year fashion design student is thanking his stars for taking a wise decision to take a one year break in 2009 before pursuing a course in the field of fashion designing. While his friends took away an offer of Rs 4 lakh package after completing their three-year course last year, Garg has been offered a Rs 6 lakh job with a retail firm. This is considering the fact, that all of them pursued the course in the same institute.

While the Indian economy has not shown a robust growth this fiscal, and human resource consultants are seeing a direct impact on jobs in 'niche' roles, fashion technology and design institutes have seen a good placement season. In fact, institutes including National Institute of Design (NID), National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and Pearl Academy have seen better placements this year, in terms of salary and number of companies visiting the campus, compared to last year.

Take Pearl Academy in New Delhi, for example. This year, 90% of their students have been placed in reputed firms, compared to 85% last year. Rohit Sharma, Head-Corporate Relations, Pearl Academy, New Delhi said that the number of companies visiting their campus has increased substantially. "While the total count of recruiters was over 70 last year, this year we have recorded more than 100 companies coming to our campus and hiring students from Pearl Academy," he said.

The average salary for an entry level position for a student qualified in fashion technology or design ranges from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh, depending on the size of the firm. If a student manages to get placed with a design companies run by celebrity designers including Satya Paul, Ritu Kumar and Tarun Tahiliani, the starting salary is 20-30% higher than other firms, according to industry experts.

While NIFT placements are currently underway and will get over only by June 2013, Sibichan K. Mathew, Head (Industry & Alumni Affairs) at NIFT said that the number of firms recruiting from the campus increased from 186 last year to 192 in 2013. He, however, added that the number of students participating in the placement decreased from 1615 to 1601. "The number of students confirmed so far is 689 compared to 802 last year," he said.

NIFT has seen changes in the type of firms visiting the NIFT campuses too. The new firms that visited the campus included Trident, Adidas, Samsung, Hennes & Mauritz, Brand Marketing India, apart from new start ups.

The average salary at NIFT is Rs 3.2 Lakhs per annum. Mathew further informed that the median salary for under graduate students ranged from Rs 2.4 lakh to Rs 3 lakh with Fashion Communication and Accessory Design bagging the highest offers and Leather Design and Textile Design students taking the lowest. The median salary for post graduate student ranged from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 3.7 lakh with Master of Fashion Management students getting the highest and Master of Design the lowest.

NID has also seen a surge in pay packages over last year. In the placement week in December 2012, (all three campuses), a total of 100 companies attended it. A total of 234 offers were given in the pay range of Rs 6.5 lakhs to Rs 13 lakhs per annum. Industry sources said that the packages at NID have risen by almost 20%, with companies from sectors like IT also making their presence felt.

Entrepreneurship has also been a preferred choice by some of the students in this field. NIFT, for instance, has a structured curriculum to equip students to become entrepreneurs. Mathew explained that though the exact number of students pursuing their own business would be known only after May 2013, he added that fashion business as such provides a lot of opportunities for start ups.

At Pearl Academy too, students have been enthusiastic about starting their own ventures. While the exact details of this year's batch were not available, since the placements are still on, last year they had almost 20% students who opted to start their own business enterprises.  

Placement officials of other institutes in Maharashtra and NCR region, who are yet to begin the placement process, also expressed optimism about the qualify of offers being doled out to students and increase in number of companies taking the 'campus recruitment' route. Symbiosis Institute of Design in Pune, for example, will begin the final placement process in April and have invited companies to visit the campus and conduct interviews on the same day, in the latter half of April.

5 desi designers who styled international celebs in 2012

International celebrities' fascination with Indian fashion is evident - delicate embroideries, brilliant zardosi and gota work, unique motifs, and an enormous variety in fabrics, all of these continue to inspire them to shed their gown-and-trouser look to sport the ethnic attire.

Hollywood actors and actresses along with several world famous models have made appearances in creations by Indian designers in the past putting India on the world fashion map. This year too, the trend was no different. Let's take a look at the prominent international fashion icons who went Indian in 2012!

1. Oprah Winfrey sizzles in a Tarun Tahiliani saree

Oprah Winfrey pulls off the corporate look of pleated skirt and blouse rather impressively but when the famous talk show host came to India in January this year, she had saree on her mind. On duty was master couturier Tarun Tahiliani who left no stone unturned to clothe her in a traditional Indian saree, much desired by her. Tarun had a vibrant colour in mind for her and after sifting through a bunch of colours, he settled for a bright orange and golden Kanjeevaram silk brocade saree, embellished with beautiful gota work. He combined the nine-yard fabric with a corset blouse with zardosi embroidery. Looking radiant in the burnt orange and gold combination, Oprah set off for Parmeshwar Godrej's bash in Mumbai.

2. Designer duo Shivan and Narresh style Dita Von Teese

Burlesque star Dita Von Teese made her maiden appearance in India at New Delhi's The Leela Palace in a figure hugging black lace saree designed by none other than ace couturiers Shivan and Narresh. The designer duo who had been exclusively commissioned to style her through the trip accessorised her saree-look for the evening with the traditional Indian tika and gem-studded earrings, along with her trademark scarlet red lipstick. 40-year-old Von Teese is the global brand ambassador for Cointreau, and she was in the capital as part of the 'Be Cointreauversial' campaign. Besides the saree, Shivan and Narresh sketched two other looks, both in black - one a belted black saree with an elegant silver clutch and brooch, and another georgette saree with large golden leaf motifs.

3. Judi Dench's favourites, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla

It was on the sets of the Bond movie 'The World Is Not Enough' when Dame Judi Dench first noticed French actress Sophie Marceau sporting an Abu-Sandeep creation. Intrigued by the unabashed Indian aesthetics, she got in touch with the duo and immediately marked them as her favourite. Naturally, it wasn't a surprise when Dench wore one of their creations to this year's London Evening Standard Theatre Awards on November 25. A long powder-grey coat with intricate white chikankari work in floral patterns teamed with cigarette pants and plain black stilettos completed the look for the British icon. Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla's relationship with Dench has spanned over a decade. So when the duo asked her to launch their coffee table book, 'India Fantastique' in London this year, she gracefully accepted. She wore a blood-red long dress adorned with heavy golden embellishments in leafy motifs to the event.

4. Naomi Campbell and friends wear lehengas by Manish Malhotra

British supermodel Naomi Campbell decided to throw a traditional Indian party for her billionaire boyfriend, Vladimir Doronin's 50th birthday and what could be a better destination than Jodhpur's Mehrangarh Fort to celebrate the 'Royal India' theme. And to justify a theme like that, the host wore two Manish Malhotra creations. One was a white saree with bright orange and pink borders to the star-studded brunch and the other, an anarkali kurta from his Mijwan collection. She was joined by her close friends, Kate Moss, Demi Moore and Karolina Kurkova later in the evening, all three dazzling in ethnic Indian dresses styled by the celebrity designer. While Moss chose a beige and ivory coloured lehenga with detailed Kashmiri embroidery, Moore picked up a lehenga with red and green border with elaborate zari work and former Victoria's Secret Angel, Karolina Kurkova pulled off one of his creations in pink.

5. Paris Hilton showstops for Falguni and Shane at IRFW'12

Paris Hilton resembled a mermaid on the ramp when she opened the show for Falguni and Shane at the Indian Resort Fashion Week 2012 in November this year. In a glittering gown reflecting colours of the sea, she smiled and pouted in the sparkling silver and stunning blue ensemble. The 31-year-old American socialite set the ramp on fire by walking in to the beats of the popular Korean number 'Gangnam Style' that left the audience asking for more. The heiress had met the designer duo at IRFW last year as well as at the New York fashion week, and was truly enthralled by their futuristic designs. <

National Institute of Design gets cabinet nod for national status

Date 14 Jan 2013 10:39:10 IST , Times of India    Tags: Fashion Design

The National Institute of Design (NID) will soon be able to award degrees to its students. The Union Cabinet, on Thursday, approved the declaration of the National Institute of Design (NID) as an 'Institution of National Importance' as per parliamentary laws.

The approval came through in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. A legislation in this regard will be introduced in the next session of Parliament.

According to an official release, the status may prove to be beneficial for students who wish to pursue post-graduation in and outside the country besides fulfilling the need to standardise professional design education in India.

Pradyumna Vyas, director, NID, said, "It is a big milestone for NID to become a centre of excellence. The status will take the professions of students to greater heights and help position NID as an equivalent to international design universities."

Raghavendra Rathore on hunt for young designers

Date 2 Jan 2013 13:14:46 IST , Times of India    The National Textile Corporation Limited (NTC) has announced the hunt for the country's 10 most promising designers. The "NTC Young Designer Hunt" will be monitored by ace designer Raghavendra Rathore, who will not only supervise the talent hunt but will also train the participating designers too. Rathore, who recently made the wedding achkan of Saif Ali Khan, feels that the efforts that have been put into this talent hunt will definitely help create a future of India on global map. "I am actually looking for local players, in fact I believe that the next big trend is regionalisation because globalisation has happened already. I believe that next big thing that is going to happen now is to celebrate what is close to you and make it available to people, who don't know that it exists," Rathore said. "With this hunt we are looking for someone who is creatively clear with their thoughts. They are not designing what is already there but they need to design for the future. I think that is the key. It is not about runway or retail stores, it is about how do you get an enticing in the Indian market. It is very important for people to visualise packaging when you create the product because the biggest weakness today is packaging," he added. NTC, a central public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Textiles, made the announcement Wednesday night about the Young Designer Hunt. The press conference in this regard was addressed by union Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles Anand Sharma, who also inaugurated the project. "This designer hunt will not only help the young designers in showcasing their creativity but will also help NTC in fulfilling its commitment of transforming itself into a world class, eco-friendly and integrated textile corporation," Sharma said. The budding designers can download the entry form and mini-portfolios with the details of selection process from the NTC website.

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