Malini Ramani, one of the famous Indian fashion designers was born in New York, but came to India at the age of 11 and then her parents put her into a boarding school in the Himalayan Mountains (Sanawar). From the very start she found that it was too military and conformist for her. Being a rebel right from her childhood days, she ended up running away from school 6-1/2 years later.
After studying Fashion Buying and Merchandising at F.I.T. in New York, she came back to India in 1990, where she believed a major transformation was about to take place, and she was keen to be part of the revolution of a "New Youthful India." She experimented with a number of exciting and successful creative pursuits that were brand new to India, such as Radio, TV, Nightclubs and even writing a very popular Gossip Column.
Then, literally by accident, fashion fell into her lap and her life changed forever. She found that fashion was the combination of everything she loved. She discovered her passion for making women feel and look glamorous by designing clothes for them, and hit the Indian fashion scene with her "Rock star meets Indian Princess" collection with her debut show at the inaugural LIFW in 2000. The show drew rave reviews from all quarters and Malini Ramani - "The Designer" was born.
Malini`s design philosophy is simple: only create clothes that she would love to wear herself. She believes in vibrant colour, plunging necklines, and loads of glamour. But the best way to identify a `Malini Ramani` piece is; through the shine, sparkle and splendorous look. Her clothes are glamorous and provocative, and are not for the timid client, with lots of beading, sequins and embroidery adorning feminine, figures hugging cuts.
Today, Malini is one of India`s leading designers, with her designed clothes sparkling on the cocktail circuit from Bombay to Monte Carlo to Beirut to Moscow. Her super-flash and cut clothes are a hot favourite with Bollywood starlets, transforming them into `Millennium Indian Love Goddesses`!
Besides that, she runs a 17,000 square ft. restaurant in Goa, called "Congo", which has already been chosen by Conde` Nast`s "Traveller" magazine as one of the best night spots in the world. She is also one of the designers chosen to design an aircraft for Vijay Mallya`s `Kingfisher airlines". Malini`s dream is to have her own Resort boutiques on magical tropical islands around the globe.
`Malini Ramani` ensembles are available through her two flagship stores in New Delhi and Goa, as well as through many leading stores all over the country such as Ensemble in Mumbai, Ogaan in New Delhi, Kimaya in Mumbai, Sagar in Mumbai, Sosas in Goa and Evolutione in Chennai and Bangalore. Internationally `Malini Ramani` is available at Kimaya - Dubai, Sanskrit - Hong Kong, Venus - Monte Carlo, Indomix - New York, Khazana - Moscow. As of June 2005, Bali will witness the opening of an exclusive `Malini Ramani` store, the first Indian designer store in Bali.
Fashion Shows
LIFW 2002
Malini Ramani`s collection featured something, which was categorized as Earthy Dragons, Party and Ramani Resort. A palette of kaleidoscopic colours mixed with diverse treatments of sequins, beadwork, marbling, mirror work and embroideries painted her canvas. Silhouettes were hip, young and trendy. There were bold, brazen and outrageous pants with corsets, kaftans, sarees, tubular dresses and skirts using colours like black, white, purple, pink, blue, beige and browns.
LIFW 2003
Malini`s collection was basically with western silhouettes incorporating plenty of stylized design motifs and a few saris and dogri style pants. Hems were asymmetrical; pants were flared and low slung. Tops included spaghetti straps layering bondage, punk, and combat camouflage, along with the mirror work. The colour palette included dusty pinks running through to wines, which led into oranges, then, khaki. But black was the dominating colour.
LIFW 2004
Malini Ramani`s collection was very naughty, spoilt and feminine in its expression. Ankle length tunic dresses with long slits running up the legs, angrakha styled fitted knee length dresses, flirty handkerchief hem dresses with ample movement, teensy mini skirts, rushed tee-shirts and fitted pants, sheer vertically panelled gypsy skirts and sarees with blouses were the mainstay of her collection. The dresses with fully embroidered floral warm colours and the line of ensemble appliqu‚d with bold gold and primary coloured patches were also very eye catching. The highlights were the rib knit cholis in single colours or vibrant stripes, embellished with a million golden ghungroos; pompom encrusted bags; and the crystal and mirror work spangled ornamentation. Colours of red, fuchsia, coral, yellow, and orange were set against the neutrals of white, black and nude.
LIFW 2005
Malini Ramani chose three girls- "Maya", the Bombay Bohemian, "Maria", the Carnival girl and "Tara", the Style Swami Guru Girl to display in style. The theme of her collection, revolved around three girls celebrating life and was called "Carnival Chic" presented in three different sections, it displayed its own share of unique colour palettes and elegant fusion trousseau. There was the trademark Malini Mirror Work on lots of the clothes. Colours were bright with neon pink and green being her favourites.
Wills Lifestyle IFW 2006
Showing an A/W 2006-07 Resort Wear line for women Malini`s inspiration for WIFW 2006 was `The Party`. The three themes running through this were `Brunch`, `Sunset` and `After Party`. The 60`s look interpreted in a modern way. Her focus was usually almost always resort-wear, so there are definitely undertones of that all through my collection. My colour palette ranges from pale creams all the way to fuchsias to gold and olive green. My silhouettes include Kaftans (long and short), peasant tops, babydolls, slim fit Nehru-jackets, and more. Malini Ramani was born in New York, but came to India at the age of 11 and then her parents put her into a boarding school in the Himalayan Mountains (Sanawar). From the very start she found that it was too military and conformist for her. Being a rebel right from her childhood days, she ended up running away from school 6-1/2 years later.
After studying Fashion Buying and Merchandising at F.I.T. in New York, she came back to India in 1990, where she believed a major transformation was about to take place, and she was keen to be part of the revolution of a "New Youthful India." She experimented with a number of exciting and successful creative pursuits that were brand new to India, such as Radio, TV, Nightclubs and even writing a very popular Gossip Column.
Then, literally by accident, fashion fell into her lap and her life changed forever. She found that fashion was the combination of everything she loved. She discovered her passion for making women feel and look glamorous by designing the clothes for them, and hit the Indian fashion scene with her "Rock star meets Indian Princess" collection with her debut show at the inaugural LIFW in 2000. The show drew rave reviews from all quarters and Malini Ramani - "The Designer" was born.
Malini`s design philosophy is simple: only create clothes that she would love to wear herself. She believes in vibrant colour, plunging necklines, and loads of glamour. Her clothes are glamorous and provocative, and are not for the timid client, with lots of beading, sequins and embroidery adorning feminine, figures hugging cuts.
Today, Malini is one of India`s leading designers, with her splendorous clothes sparkling on the cocktail circuit from Bombay to Monte Carlo to Beirut to Moscow. Her super-flash and splendorous cut clothes are a hot favourite with Bollywood starlets, transforming them into `Millennium Indian Love Goddesses`!
Besides that, she runs a 17,000 square ft. restaurant in Goa, called "Congo", which has already been chosen by Conde` Nast`s "Traveller" magazine as one of the best night spots in the world. She is also one of the designers chosen to design an aircraft for Vijay Mallya`s `Kingfisher airlines". Malini`s dream is to have her own Resort boutiques on magical tropical islands around the globe.
`Malini Ramani` ensembles are available through her two flagship stores in New Delhi and Goa, as well as through many leading stores all over the country such as Ensemble in Mumbai, Ogaan in New Delhi, Kimaya in Mumbai, Sagar in Mumbai, Sosas in Goa and Evolutione in Chennai and Bangalore. Internationally `Malini Ramani` is available at Kimaya - Dubai, Sanskrit - Hong Kong, Venus - Monte Carlo, Indomix - New York, Khazana - Moscow. As of June 2005, Bali will witness the opening of an exclusive `Malini Ramani` store, the first Indian designer store in Bali.
Fashion Shows
LIFW 2002
Malini Ramani`s collection featured something, which was categorized as Earthy Dragons, Party and Ramani Resort. A palette of kaleidoscopic colours mixed with diverse treatments of sequins, beadwork, marbling, mirror work and embroideries painted her canvas. Silhouettes were hip, young and trendy. There were bold, brazen and outrageous pants with corsets, kaftans, sarees, tubular dresses and skirts using colours like black, white, purple, pink, blue, beige and browns.
LIFW 2003
Malini`s collection was basically with western silhouettes incorporating plenty of stylized design motifs and a few saris and dogri style pants. Hems were asymmetrical; pants were flared and low slung. Tops included spaghetti straps layering bondage, punk, and combat camouflage, along with the mirror work. The colour palette included dusty pinks running through to wines, which led into oranges, then, khaki. But black was the dominating colour.
LIFW 2004
Malini Ramani`s collection was very splenderous , naughty, spoilt and feminine in its expression. Ankle length tunic dresses with long slits running up the legs, angrakha styled fitted knee length dresses, flirty handkerchief hem dresses with ample movement, teensy mini skirts, rushed tee-shirts and fitted pants, sheer vertically panelled gypsy skirts and sarees with splenderous blouses were the mainstay of her collection. The dresses with fully embroidered florals warm colours and the line of ensemble appliqu‚d with bold gold and primary coloured patches were also very eye catching. The highlights were the rib knit cholis in single colours or vibrant stripes, embellished with a million golden ghungroos; pompom encrusted bags; and the crystal and mirror work spangled ornamentation. Colours of red, fuschsia, coral, yellow, and orange were set against the neutrals of white, black and nude.
LIFW 2005
Malini Ramani chose three girls- "Maya", the Bombay Bohemian, "Maria", the Carnival girl and "Tara", the Style Swami Guru Girl to display in style. The theme of her collection, revolved around three girls celebrating life and was called "Carnival Chic" presented in three different sections, it displayed its own share of unique colour palettes and elegant fusion trousseau. There was the trademark Malini Mirror Work on lots of the clothes. Colours were bright with neon pink and green being her favourites.
Wills Lifestyle IFW 2006
Showing an A/W 2006-07 Resort Wear line for women Malini`s inspiration for WIFW 2006 was `The Party`. The three themes running through this were `Brunch`, `Sunset` and `After Party`. The 60`s look interpreted in a modern way. Her focus was usually almost always resort-wear, so there are definitely undertones of that all through my collection. My colour palette ranges from pale creams all the way to fuchsias to gold and olive green. My silhouettes include Kaftans (long and short), peasant tops, baby dolls, slim fit Nehru-jackets, and more.
