'Indian youth choosing refined, subtle fashion'

India's youth is indulging in fashion like never before, choosing styles that are refined and in tune with the international market, say owners of menswear fashion brand Blackberrys, which launched its new collection Urban.

The Autumn-Winter 2017 and Spring-Summer 2018 Urban collections were launched at a partner connect programme held here with singer Papon and actress Gauahar Khan pepping up the event with live performances on Monday night.

Talking to IANS on the sidelines of the launch, Nitin Mohan told IANS that the brand took five years to launch the casual wear category.

"The casual wear market was big enough. We did our homework well.

"The young Indians have more disposable income and this has given a boost to casual wear range. We are new to this segment and we took this as an opportunity to create a brand that addresses that market fairly. When we outlined the concept, it was a pure design-driven concept but we are now launching it as a full fledged brand," he added.

The collection, according to brand members, is designed for the well-travelled urban Indian consumer. Some of the highlights of this collection include pilot jackets with big pockets, cargo trousers, dropped trousers and knitted bombers.

Asked about the market research that went behind it, Nikhil Mohan told IANS: "The idea of the trends came in from the international market but we also looked inside India, in places like Jammu, Varanasi and of course, cities like Delhi and Guwahati."

"There is an opportunity for rest up casual wear. That sound a little conflicting, but this (the new Urban launch) is not the usual colourful red, yellow, blue or white type of range. This range is meant for style conscious Indian youth who understand fashion. They have very refined and subtle fashion taste."

Nikhil also stressed that since everything is only a click away nowadays, all markets -- tier-II or tier-III markets are "equally important for a brand" as "people are making fashion choices of their own and are experimenting with attires".

Present to make the night glamorous was Gauahar, who performed on some popular Bollywood tracks like "Kala chashma" and "Saara zamaana". Singer Papon also sang tracks like "Moh moh ke dhaage", "Kyon" and some old and gold tracks at the audience's behest.

(The writer's trip was at the invitation of Blackberrys. Nivedita can be contacted at nivedita.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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