Fashion Guru in the Making

Just randomly, I ran across the website of India's most prestigious fashion school, the Pearl Academy of Fashion, and I happened to see an old friend of mine on its website! They were featuring the collections of some of their students (I presume there was some selectivity in order to have them appear on the site).

Anyway. Clearly, I was delighted to be reminded of him, see his picture on there, and take a look at a video of his collections. His very brief portfolio on the site says:

Niren Saldanha, 23 yrs old
Career focus: To work as an exponent of contemporary design for the Global market.
Work Experience: Internship with Abhraham & Thakore.
Final Design Project: revelations – a conceptual collections of women's wear, showcasing the working and process of design, as an inherent and creative facility. Using contrasting stripes and construction techniques to demonstrate the harmony within design and balance of the elements within.

He and I were really good friends back in Hanover, Indiana. We had many great, fun, long conversations… in fact, he was he first one to ever mention Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead to me. So, it should be clear that we had a lot to talk about. The guy is exceptionally brilliant–though obviously in very unconventional ways. He scored an amazingly high score on his SATs, but failed miserably in his college courses. In fact, part of the reason why he is in India now is because he was kicked out of college (in Indiana) for not passing his minimum required courses. It was certainly a sad loss for me back then, cause I had really enjoyed his company there. The most striking memory I have of him is of him working at this local "townie" icecream store! He got along great with the local Hanoverians! Oh, and there's also this fact that over 3 months of a summer, he and I practiced basketball together so regularly that I developed an incredibly commendable skill in the game (given my general lack of sporting ability), and I believe I beat him on several occassions when we played together. So, that was cool. Those were also my skinnier, prettier-looking days. *sigh*

Anyway, check out the Academy website and especially, Niren Saldanha's portfolio video. I must admit, however, that the video looks a bit amateurish; and I definitely think that the models don't do full justice to Niren's clothes; they walk around quite awkwardly, and some of them have no clue what to do with their hands. Oh, but I love the music in the background that they walk to. I wonder if Niren was instrumental in selecting that piece of music, because it is powerful and quite appropriate to the theme (stripes) of his designs.