Aneeth Arora

Suneet Varma, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Bandana Tewari, Priya Tanna, Sunil Sethi, Anaita Shroff Adajania, Gaurav Mahajan, Alka Nishar & Oona Dhabhar

When you’re the first name in fashion, you do something about it. The folks over at Vogue India decided to set up a fashion fund to support emerging designers much like their Vogue US counterpart. After receiving an unprecedented amount of entries, (imagine the amount of sketches and swatches) they have finally zeroed in on six finalists.

Pankaj&Nidhi, Rahul Mishra, Payal Pratap Singh, Aneeth Arora, Nitin Bal Chauhan & Amit Aggarwal

It was no easy task to come this far, as they had to impress a panel of fashion powerhouses. They included Vogue India’s top brass Editor Priya Tanna, Fashion Features Director Bandana Tiwari, Fashion Director Anaita Shroff-Adajania and Marketing Director Oona Dhabhar.  President of the FDCI Sunil Sethi, designers Sabyasachi, Suneet Verma, Gaurav Mahajan and Alka Nishar – COOs of Westside were also part of the panel.

Held at Amadeus restaurant in Mumbai, the  finalists were unveiled to be Pankaj & Nidhi, Nitin Bal Chauhan, Aneeth Arora, Amit Aggarwal, Rahul Mishra and Payal Pratap Singh. 

The grand prize winners will receive a Rs 25 lakh sponsorship, a feature in Vogue India, retail contracts with Westside, an industry mentorship, and a slot at the Wills India Lifestyle Fashion Week. That’s quite the prize package… what an amazing opportunity for these newcomers! The winner will be unveiled in the 5th Anniversary issue of Vogue this October.

Take a look at the designers’ capsule collections below:

1) Rahul Mishra

Rahul Mishra

2) Amit Aggarwal

Amit Aggarwal

3) Payal Pratap Singh

Payal Pratap Singh

4) Pankaj & Nidhi

Pankaj & Nidhi

5) Nitin Bal Chauhan

Nitin Bal Chauhan

6) Aneeth Arora

Aneeth Arora

I’m so torn between all of them. Can’t wait to see who the winner is, but in my books they’ve all accomplished a great deal.

Team MissMalini wishes all finalists good luck! Who do you think will win?