Swirling creation: Dipannita in the music video wearing the costume by Moonmoon Phukon

June 14: Gangster’s Ya Ali turned Zubeen Garg into a household name in Bollywood. Will designer Moonmoon Phukon be the next big import from Assam?

Seems like it, going by the rave reviews Phukon received after draping the sultry Dipannita Sharma in a music video, sung and composed by Mumbai-based musician Manish Jha. The designer is being flooded with offers from Bollywood even before Kali re Kali…, the Dipannita song, goes on air.

“Everyone has appreciated the unusual and innovative costumes I designed for Dipannita. Talks are going on with some Bollywood production houses. Let us see how things take shape. I am keeping my fingers crossed,” said Phukon. “All designers dream of designing costumes for mainstream Hindi cinema. Now I feel I am close to realising my dream,” he said.

At present, Phukon is busy designing costumes for the forthcoming series of popular reality show Nach Baliye.

“If my costumes are selected, I will be designing for the entire series of the show,” he said.

The costumes for the album Kali was inspired from the Goddess Kali, who is the symbol of death, destruction, fear and the consuming aspects of reality, said Phukon.

“I have chosen dark and mysterious colours for the costume. It is made out of three layers of fabric down the hips. The innermost layer is given an umbrella cut with red chiffon fabric designed in a triangular form. The middle layer is slashed to the thigh level with asymmetrical cuts of fabric attached to it. And the topmost layer is patched with golden fabric to show the success and power of the character. Even on the hands, red frills are added to give a very strong and intense look all over. It was supplemented with a marigold flower, earrings, kara and a waist band,” he added.

The entire fashion fraternity of the city has appreciated Phukon’s achievement in the national fashion circuit. “We are proud of Phukon. He holds good promises and is an inspiration for the aspiring designers of the region. We wish him all success in his endeavour,” said one of the veteran fashion designers of the city.

Phukon has won rave reviews at several shows held in metropolitan cities like Bangalore, Chennai and New Delhi. He was also nominated among the best 120 upcoming designers of the country and was in the six-designer team from Bangalore which participated in a fashion show organised by the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), New Delhi, in collaboration with Australian fashion innovators in 2004.

Phukon, who has been a professional designer for the past six years, also has a design studio christened Moonmoon in Guwahati and Bangalore. He is a graduate from the Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology, Bangalore.

He received the Best Designer award from the institute in 2001 followed by the Best Outgoing Student and the Most Creative Designer awards in 2002.

He has designed costumes for models like Dipannita, Nina Manuel, Yana Gupta, Lakshmi Rana, Nethra Ragh-uraman, Joey, Sheetal Mallar, Kelly Dorjee, Rahul Dev, Tarun Arora and Aryan Vaid.