Return of a fashion god

Just as we were recouping from Covid-19’s first assault, The New York Times broke a story that no one saw coming: ‘Indian Designer Manish Arora’s Downfall’.

- NAMRATA ZAKARIA

It was an investigative piece (also known as an ‘insider leak’, in fashion parlance) on the manner in which the inventive fashion designer ran his company—by spending much on marketing himself and not paying employees and vendors instead.

The long-form piece on India’s most celebrated designer—yes, he was bigger than Sabyasachi, too, with international collaborations with Nespresso, Mac, Swarovski, Reebok, Swatch and many others—came like a lightning bolt. Arora was an Indian fashion god. He had been showing at Paris Fashion Week regularly since 2007 and even fronted Paco Rabanne. I had attended his first show in Paris. The decor was by none other than artist Subodh Gupta. Steel utensils hung from the ceiling, and models sashayed by in pinks and golds and hallucinogenic colours.