Calcutta couture: (Top) A Kiran Uttam Ghosh creation and (below) a dress by Anamika Khanna

Fashion guru Sabyasachi Mukherjee sits in his office in a narrow road in Topsia. He is looking at a feathery skirt, and is visibly excited about his new collection for the Lakme Fashion Week to be held in March. Anamika Khanna is furiously at work in her factory at Lansdowne. And Kiran Uttam Ghosh is in her sitting room in her Palm Place house — as chic as the lady herself — giving the final touches to a new line to be out in April.

Clearly, passion is their warp and innovation, their weft. The magnificent trio from Calcutta has been weaving designs that have made heads turn across the seven seas. New York to Switzerland, Paris to Kenya, London to Dubai — over the past few years they have elbowed their way into the international fashion scene. And today — after several seasons of fashion weeks in London, New York, Rome and Paris — the 30-something designers are being hailed by the West as show stoppers in their own right.

Mukherjee, who defines his art as “an international styling with an Indian soul”, was described as the “Hermes of India” by a noted Western fashion stylist. Khanna — the first Indian designer to launch an international label, Ana-Mika, catering to the global high fashion luxury market in 2004 — is a regular feature in the British Vogue, Paris-based Glamour and The London Magazine. Ghosh, on her part, has a palpable presence in eight countries, including the United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia.

All three have come a long way since the days when Khanna bagged an exclusive contract with Harrods after her first showing at the 2002 London Fashion Week. To date, she has had six consecutive seasons there and still retails through the department store in London, apart from 300 speciality retail stores the world over. Three years later, Browns, a shopping destination for the likes of Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow, zeroed in on Mukherjee’s collection for display. A year later, Ghosh made her mark at the Rome Couture Week where she did a solo show.

The designers are now busy with their new collections. Mukherjee has just returned from the London Fashion Week, and is now more than ever focused on adding “width” to the fashion world — in terms of conceptualising, experimenting and creating unique outfits — rather than “depth” — embellishing what’s already in vogue.

Five months ago Mukherjee used the hammer, sickle and star as symbols with a colour palette of burnt orange, forest green and Indian khaki, cut in classic, sometimes voluminous, Western silhouettes, to present a slice of India to the world at large. “What sets Sabyasachi apart is his creativity and versatility. He has a great sense of colour, uses it diligently so that each colour speaks for itself,” says ace designer Aki Narula. “His surface detailing is noteworthy as are his silhouettes.”

Anamika Khanna

Sabyasachi Mukherjee

Kiran Uttam Ghosh

Khanna, on her part, has sent a new rock chic collection for the Tranoi exhibition in Paris to start on February 28. This is a prelude to the spring/summer edition of the Paris Fashion Week in August, where she will be showing for the second consecutive season. But before that, she is looking forward to unveiling her collection at the Grand Finale of the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week in March. “My collection will be clean, sharp and edgy in keeping with the theme, Mode in India, this year,” she says.

Rathi Vinay Jha, director general, Fashion Design Council of India, is full of praise for this petite designer. “Dynamic and vibrant, Anamika has made a significant contribution to the fashion industry,” says Jha.

There is no denying that. The fabrics Khanna chooses are not overly textured or embellished but are simple linen, chiffon, muslin and distressed fabrics. Often, rich embroidery reminiscent of Indian craft accentuates a hand-sewn garment and frayed edges are smoothed over with contrast stitching. “A fusion of the eastern and western sensibilities sets her apart,” says Narula.

But the self-taught designer has her feet firmly on the ground. “It’s the pressure to deliver that helps me better myself. I don’t look back at what I have done. Once the show is over, I move on. Finishing a show always gives me a low,” she says.

That isn’t quite the case with Ghosh. In fact, the Rome Couture Week in 2006 was, in a way, the piece de resistance of her career. “The response was great. I got a standing ovation and it propelled me to do better work.” That is perhaps why she has consolidated her production abroad in the next six months, apart from showcasing her collection at the Lakme Fashion Week and launching a third line in April this year.

Meant to be an edgier version of her past labels, Kimono and Kiran Uttam Ghosh, this new line is for women who seek a toned-down style statement. “I have always preferred simple cuts with a touch of elegance. So this time I decided to launch a line which will comprise great fabric and retain the essence of silhouettes but without embellishments.”

Anil Chopra, vice-president of Lakme Lever, which organises the Lakme Fashion Week, emphasises that Ghosh’s clothes are “not over the top” — and that’s one reason she has been welcomed abroad. “Her clothes are also trendy and have originality. In the fashion week held last March, Ghosh’s Ethlectic collection of quirky Western and Indian wear based on Big Ethel (of Archie comics) came in for praise from all quarters.”

Ghosh explains the choice of her theme last year. “I think designers take themselves too seriously. It is essential to have the ability to laugh at one’s own work,” she says. The Big Ethel idea clicked and going by past responses her new collection — now under wraps — is also likely to find takers both in the East and West.

At the moment, then, the winsome threesome seems to have a ramp edge over other top designers in Mumbai and Delhi. What gives them that edge is best summed up by Khanna as she envisions her goal. “In the coming years I would like to see myself as an international brand focusing on aesthetics, quality and passion. Rather than be a mechanical, machine-oriented brand, I want to position myself as a human brand that weaves in art and craft, love and labour.”

Way to go — westward ho!