LONDON, United Kingdom and MUMBAI, India – Over dinner at Milan Fashion Week last February, I got to talking to Bandana Tewari, Fashion Features Director of Vogue India, about the renewed energy in London fashion. Naturally, her first question was what Indian designers were doing to contribute to the London scene, particularly as India continues to emerge for a centre for world-class design.

The result of our conversation is this Vogue India article on Indian designers based in London. While writing the piece, I got to know three Indian designers with three amazing stories, each of which started in India and subsequently took them all over the world, until they finally ended up in London.

Between them, Ashish Gupta, Saloni Lodha and Aseef Vaza have lived and worked in Toronto, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Florence, Paris and New York — bringing quintessentially cosmopolitan energy to London’s design and fashion community.

While China may have the unyielding focus of many Western luxury brands today, many players are already beginning to set their sights on India for the next wave of expansion. But, as global luxury players begin to tentatively test these Indian waters, they are finding that India, which has its own vibrant indigenous cultural scene, may require a different expansion strategy altogether.

With Bollywood stars and local Cricket legends that get more attention in India than their Western cultural equivalents, there is no blank canvas in India upon which to paint Western tastes. Locals on the streets of Shanghai and Beijing have, by and large, adopted Western dress, but those in Delhi and Mumbai  are more likely to fuse East and West; a Tarun Tahiliani kameez paired with Seven for all Mankind jeans, Jimmy Choos and a Gucci bag or a Sabyasachi sari paired with Harry Winston jewels and Bottega Veneta minaudiere.

For international luxury brands, therefore, conquering the Indian market will require a lot more than a cut and paste — and, there is some formidable local talent to contend with.

On this note, Vogue India’s Bandana Tewari called my attention to an insightful article written by Adam Levin, of The Times of South Africa, who delves into India’s nascent luxury brands, which are using their local knowledge and savoir-faire to stake their own claims in the Indian luxury market land grab. What’s more, some of the best indigenous brands may even have the potential for taking their world-class craftsmanship to a global audience, something that Western brands have done furtively for years.

I caught up with Bandana, who is in London this week, to learn more.  “India’s design signature has more to do with the quality of fabric and intricacy of workmanship rather than the silhouette,” she told me. “I don’t expect the Indian sari to be a sell out in Paris for instance. However, imagining say, a resort collection using the intrinsic fluidity of the sari with tempered down Indian embellishments is absolutely plausible.”

To wit, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Rajesh Pratap Singh and Manish Arora have already developed international profiles based on this kind of approach. Next-generation Indian designers like Namrata Joshipura and Anuj Sharma have managed to catch the attention of international buyers and press at the two competing Indian fashion weeks held recently.

But, as Bandana notes, “Indian designers selling abroad still have a lot to learn, especially from the likes of Dries Van Noten, Etro and Kenzo-designers who continue to reinterpret ethnic influences by making them culturally exciting not ethno-centric.” Until then, Indian brands will continue to fight the good fight in their homeland, while the international brands may use their own advantage to bring Indian craftsmanship to the world.

Sabyasachi A/W 2008 images courtesy of Getty Images, International Herald Tribune and Michael Rubenstein (www.mrubenstein.com)

I wanted to share with the BoF community an exciting step in the evolution of Indian fashion that marks the official arrival of India on the global fashion scene.

For years, Western designers and global brands have  used Indian craftsmanship, culture and history as  an inspiration for fashion. From intricate embroidery this season on Marchesa’s "Raj and in Charge" dresses for Spring/Summer 2008 to khaki’s from Gap, Ralph Lauren and Abercrombie and Fitch that have outfitted generations of Americans, India’s influence on global fashion goes all the way from the high-street to the high-end.

Today, my good friend Bandana Tewari, Fashion Features Editor of Vogue India , graciously sent me an image of the first cover for the newest magazine in Vogue’s stable of global fashion magazines, which now number 17 in total. From Japan to France to Mexico to Switzerland, Vogue has been the undisputed arbiter of fashion and culture for over 100 years, since its launch in 1892 as a society magazine.

For its Indian debut, Patrick Demarchelier snared Gemma Ward to pose with Indian beauties Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra, Monikangana Dutta, Preity Zinta and Laxmi Menon. The magazine includes contributions from some of Vogue’s internationally known contributors including Lucinda Chambers of British Vogue who styled the cover and editorial featuring Gemma Ward. The first issue is being feted tomorrow evening at a launch party at the immense Umaid Bhawan Palace in the Rajasthani city of Jodhpur.

The timing of the launch is no accident. With a long tradition of luxury in India and an estimated $500m domestic luxury market, global brands will now be eager to advertise their wares to India’s growing middle class.

Congratulations to Editor Priya Tanna, Bandana and the rest of the team on a phenomenal first issue. Now that Indian fashion has officially arrived, I am looking forward to seeing and hearing the intelligent editorial and images that will communicate the latest in Indian fashion and culture — not only to India, but to the world.  Finally, India will get credit for its rich history and creative contributions to global fashion. It’s long overdue.

No sooner had posted my own thoughts on the future of Indian fashion, that I began seeing other interesting perspectives which have emerged in other online fashion media over the past week on India’s luxury goods and fashion industry. Clearly, Indian fashion is on fire. Much of the content is infused with the intelligent musings of Bandana Tewari, who is also the newly named Fashion Features Editor of Vogue India and has become a good friend since we met back at London Fashion Week in February 2006.

The most recent JC Report focuses on India, covering Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week in Delhi and Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai. The highlight for me was an insightful interview conducted by global fashion guru Jason Campbell (the JC of JC Report) who speaks to  Bandana Tewari,  who is equally guru like in her knowledge of the Indian Fashion scene. You could call it the meeting of the gurus.

Bandana also features as part of an interesting dive into Indian fashion aesthetic at luxuryculture.com. There is also a fascinating interview with India’s minister for Commerce and Industry, Shri Kamal Nath, who provides a detailed look inside some of the drivers of Indian wealth and how the luxury goods industry is shaping up. If you want to get your head around the dizzying growth of Fashion and Luxury in India, this article is a must read.

[The picture above is snapped in Bandana's hotel room at Delhi Fashion Week, when Bandana kindly ordered us some room service after an exhausting day full of shows.]