An Inspirational Talk with Xerxes Bhathena

Whistling Woods Neeta Lulla School of Fashion revealed a glimpse into the future of fashion in ‘The Future of Fashion Forum’ that was held on 25^th January, 2014. This unique platform saw professionals and experts from the fashion industry sharing their vision about all things fashionable. Some of the themes of the forum included the emergence of Luxury Brands, the Growth of the Fashion Retail Business, Industry Insights and much more.

Krishna Mehta, Nachiket Barve, Pearl Shah and Ekta Rajani were some of the fashion experts who took to the stage and regaled the audience along with brand consultants and strategists like Lulu Raghavan and Rahul Narvekar. Suffice to say that all the assembled speakers inspired the audience immensely, but one inspirational speaker that graced the stage was Xerxes Bhathena.

Xerxes Bhathena embarked on his journey as a famed fashion designer at Burlington’s Fashion House, an upscale women`s and men`s clothing store, in Bombay in 1970. His rise from then onwards was meteoric and he quickly graduated to working in the Indian film industry. He got his big break when he staged a fashion show showcasing 17 of his creations at Shabana Azmi’s house. While Shabana Azmi didn’t feel his style fit for her own character, but she opined that Praveen Babi would be perfect for him. He earned accolades for his work in ‘Namak Halal’ as Praveen Babi’s designer, and the rest as they say is history.

Bhathena’s creations have graced movies like Sagar, Mr. India, Sultanat and he has created stunning outfits for over 50 films for actresses like Zeenat Aman, Smita Pati, Dimple Kapadia, Sridevi and endless more. Aspiring fashion aspirants present at the event took full advantage of this opportunity to talk to Xerxes Bhathena, and he had words of wisdom for those dreaming of being a fashion designer.

“I believe there are three things essential to be a great fashion designer. First, you have to have the burning sensation in you to become something; you have to have the passion to do it right. The second thing is to be a great student of the past, look at what has been done.  And the third thing is to have a good business sense.”

With these 3 simple lessons, Xerxes Bhathena passed on his knowledge with grace and style that is typical of the man!