Fashion forecast

"Today Zubin Vakil’s day includes client meetings, supervision of his tailors at his two workshops, besides forecasting new looks, styles and colors for the next season,” writes Mithi Chinoy of the upcoming fashion designer of Hyderabad.

Last August he launched his pret collection of skirts, tops, negligees and casual wear. "While his creative mind conjures up imaginative, bold, funky and elegant designs, he is inspired by the pleats, suspenders, pinafores and shirtwaists of a bygone era,” writes Chinoy. In a profession which demands novelty, Vakil believes, "To make something out of nothing is what fashion is all about. Therein lies the challenge.”

A model sporting an evening wear created by Vakil (below)

Trained at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Madhapur, Hy-derabad, Vakil who is in his twenties, says, "Fashion was always an obsession with me. I would get up every morning and think of fashion, walk in the street and think only of fashion. Being a creative person, it seemed the most obvious choice for me.”

Vakil has been in demand for the last couple of years. At the Gladrags contest in Bangalore in 2000 he designed swimsuits modeled by Simi Kumar. It is necessary for the woman of today "to dress her mind before she dresses her body,” recommends Vakil who insists he is "not in this field to be mediocre. I want to be at the top.”