Maybe the names Ashish N Soni, Manish Arora and Rajesh Pratap Singh don't say much to most people but - together with many others that are wholly unpronounceable for westerners - they represent the emerging nouvelle vague of Indian fashion: an actual army of creative people who have fairly recently made room for themselves in the impenetrable international fashion system. Unjustly restricted for years to globalised low-cost production, and now backed up by an increasingly rampant economy, this well assorted group of designers is rapidly conquering catwalks and markets worldwide, mastering the language and technique of fashion with absolute selfconfidence. And if Indian fashion in the collective imagination is still a synonym of kitsch, these new designers - without losing sight of a millenary tradition - have made a clean sweep of multicoloured saris and gold embroidery. Their astonishing inventiveness is fully documented in this book's 300-plus illustrations. Contemporary Indian Fashion presents a vast collection of garments, work-processes, embroideries and an intermingling and blending of styles: experimental fashion that is pleasingly free from aesthetic prejudices and audacious in its inventions. Fashion designers: Anamika Khanna, Manish Arora, Zubair Kirmani, Gaurav Gupta, Prashant Verma, Drashta Sarvaya, Cue by Rohit Gandhi & Rahul Khanna, Ashish N Soni, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, My Village / Rimzim Dadu, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Varun Bahl, Kavita Bhartia, Namrata Joshipura, Nachiket Barve, Shantanu Goenka, Ranna Gill, Nimita Rathod, Shantanu & Nikhil, Anuj Sharma, Swapnil Shinde, Small Shop.