Manish Malhotra

Manish Malhotra (born 5 December 1966) is an Indian fashion designer, couturier, costume stylist, entrepreneur, filmmaker, revivalist based in Mumbai, India.

The founder of the eponymous label, Manish Malhotra, he sometimes took part in the narration and scripting to develop film costumes. Malhotra received the Priyadarshini Memorial Award for his contribution to the fashion industry and the Filmfare Award for Best Costume Design in 1996 for the film Rangeela (1995).

Since 2018, Manish has launched four other new ventures - Manish Malhotra Beauty, Manish Malhotra Jewellery, a Film Production company, and Home decor.

Early life
Manish Malhotra was born to a Punjabi family in Mumbai, India. He studied at the Sacred Heart Boys High School, Mumbai. At the age of 19, while studying Arts at Elphinstone College in Mumbai, he did a few modeling gigs in ad campaigns for brands like Fu's, Weekender, Frooti, and Goldspot. He then joined a boutique in Bandra called Equinox, where he spent his time sketching and draping the mannequins for a year. In 1987, he hired two tailors and started taking customized couture orders from his house. In 1989, he styled the actress Divya Bharti in a song sequence for a film by David Dhawan, but the film was never released. He debuted in the Hindi Film Industry as a costume stylist in 1990.

Stylist and designer
Malhotra made his costume designing debut with the film Swarg (1990), starring Rajesh Khanna, Govinda and Juhi Chawla. The same year, he was hired by Sridevi to style her photoshoot looks. In 1993, he designed a complete look for the late Sridevi's character in Mahesh Bhatt's Gumrah. After the shooting of the Telugu thriller Govinda Govinda (1994), Ram Gopal Varma hired him for the costumes of Rangeela (1995). The film led Filmfare to introduce a new award category for costume designing, the Filmfare Award for Best Costume Design, with Malhotra being its first recipient.

In 1997, Malhotra worked on Yash Raj Chopra's Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) where he designed stylish athleisure wear, sheer traditional outfits, and minimal styling to Hindi Cinema. For the costumes of Karan Johar's Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), he won 7 individual category awards for the casual to bridal looks he created. In 1999, Karan Johar hired him again to style Kareena Kapoor's look in the family drama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001).

In 2001, Malhotra won his first IIFA Award for Best Costume Design for his work in Aditya Chopra's Mohabbatein.

In 2003, Malhotra styled Johar's Kal Ho Naa Ho, a romantic comedy-drama based on NRI's living in New York City. Preity Zinta's statement pieces included scarves, trench coats, halter dresses (including a red one from "Kuch Toh Hua Hai"), sweaters, slip dresses, flared pants, and one-shoulder dresses - all relevant to the era and character. Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan's embroidered kurtas and Zinta's blue "Maahi Ve" lehenga, and Jaya Bachchan's makeover look, which including jeans, sweaters, sweatshirts and long trench and overcoats.

The same year, he designed the wedding outfits for Karisma Kapoor.

In 2004, Malhotra styled Sushmita Sen in Farah Khan's Main Hoon Na in flowy chiffon sarees, vibrant colors, and prints

In 2007, Malhotra styled Kareena Kapoor's character, Geet in the film Jab We Met. The film saw the rise of harem pants paired with long t-shirts, phulkari scarves, corset tops (with the popular red skirt), and hoop earrings with short kurtas.

In 2008, Malhotra was widely praised for Priyanka Chopra's look in the film Dostana. Based in Miami. the vibe of the film was cool chic, and so were the costumes. It saw her in a golden swimsuit, and her classic silver saree with a blouse from the song "Desi Girl" launched many versions of the same.

In 2013, Malhotra styled and designed the look for Deepika Padukone's character, Naina Talwar, in Ayan Mukerji's Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. The electric blue saree with a black shimmer blouse, her form-fitting kurtas with plunging necklines, low waist lehengas with short blouses, or floral dresses paired with sweaters and denim jackets.

His body of work of over 1000 films and designing innumerable looks for actors including Rekha, Sridevi, Raveena Tandon, Kajol, Sushmita Sen to the generation of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif, Anushka Sharma, Alia Bhatt, Janhvi Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan, Ananya Pandey, and many others, Malhotra has been telling stories through all his creations for three decades now.

Manish Malhotra was a judge panellist in the reality show Myntra Fashion Superstar which hunts India’s next big fashion influencer on the Myntra App.

Malhotra was bestowed with the Filmfare Award for 30 years of outstanding contribution to Bollywood fashion.

Entrepreneur
In 1999, he collaborated with his friends, the industrialist Kajal Anand, Avanti, and Yash Birla for a brief period to design collections for their store, Reverie.

Manish Malhotra tied up with Sheetal Design Studio and set up a workshop there. He virtually became a face of the Sheetal Design Studio, and exclusively retailed out of their store at Bombay's Grant Road for 4 years.

After claiming his position as a costume director, stylist, and Hindi film industry fashion designer, he launched his couture label Manish Malhotra in 2005. It offers bridal, couture, diffusion, men's wear, and bespoke collections that now retail at four Mumbai, New Delhi, and Hyderabad stores.

In 2006, Manish Malhotra teamed up with Saif Belhasa Group of Companies to open his first flagship store in Dubai that catered to Arab and Global customers. The collection portrayed a range of specially designed shelas, abhayas and jalabiyas, an amalgamation of traditional craft and modern design sensibilities to reflect the essence of his designs. The store later shut down in 2017.

In 2008, he opened his first two flagship stores in Khar West, Mumbai, India.

In 2013, Manish Malhotra was the first Indian designer to open the largest Indian stand-alone store sprawled over 6,000 sq.ft, located in a gorgeous haveli on Kalkadas Marg in Mehrauli, Delhi. The space reflects Malhotra's trademark opulent style with arched windows, high ceilings, and vintage chandeliers.

Manish Malhotra partnered with Etihad Airways to create a virtual reality fashion show at Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai in August 2016.

In 2017, Manish launched the Hyderabad store, located in the city's Jubilee Hills locality, which spreads over 15,000 sq. ft.

Over the years, the label's aesthetic has aimed to bring together traditional Indian craftsmanship with contemporary silhouettes like gowns with intricate gold embroidery, cigarette pants paired with long jackets for women, voluminous lehengas worn with cropped blouses, or the use of non-traditional colors like royal blue, soft pink, maroon, etc., in bridal ensembles. The label's design language is claimed to exhibit glamour and is a reflection of modern India.

In 2019, many actresses wore the signature "Manish Malhotra saree" that the designer introduced in a variety of colours.

He launched his first-ever make-up line, Manish Malhotra Beauty, in collaboration with My Glamm in December 2018.

In 2021, he launched a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which had the sketches and GIFs of five couture pieces worn by famous artists like Lisa Ray, Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Alia Bhatt.

Reliance Brands Limited (RBL) - part of the retail arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries acquired a 40 percent stake in brand 'Manish Malhotra' (within the lifestyle space domain) to accelerate the 16-year old couture house's growth in India and across the globe. On Friday, October 15, Reliance Brands and Manish Malhotra announced a strategic partnership as part of the deal. This is the first external investment for Manish Malhotra's brand, which has been privately held by the designer so far. The brand will continue to be led by Manish Malhotra, as Managing and Creative Director after the partnership with Reliance.

Notable projects
In August 2016, Malhotra's show for Lakme Fashion Week's Winter-Festive edition was shot for a Virtual Reality fashion experience by Etihad Airways. The Virtual Reality video was released earlier in January 2017 at Etihad’s Innovation Centre in Abu Dhabi. He also worked with Google on launch promotions for ‘G Suite’ – a set of intelligent apps designed for modern professionals.

Malhotra worked on a traditional outfit design for Michael Jackson, during his visit to India in the late 1990s.

He has also worked for Jean-Claude Van Damme, Reese Witherspoon in Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair, Kylie Minogue, and Jermaine Jackson and wife Halima

Sundar Pichai and his wife Anjali Pichai wore Manish Malhotra outfits for a wedding ceremony in Mumbai, India.

The designer has also dressed Hillary Clinton, Kylie Minogue, and supermodels Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.

Awards
Filmfare Awards
 * 1995 - Filmfare Award for Costume Design - Rangeela
 * Filmfare Glamour & Style Award

Bollywood Movie Award
 * 1999 Bollywood Award for Costume Design - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
 * 2002 Bollywood Awards Designer of Year - Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...
 * 2005 Bollywood Awards Designer of Year - Veer-Zaara
 * 2007 Bollywood Awards Designer of Year - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

Zee Cine Award
 * Zee Cine Award Zee Cine Award for Costume Design
 * Zee Cine Award for Best Costume for Mohabbatein
 * Zee Cine Award - Zenith 'London' for Best Costume in 2008

IIFA Awards
 * 2001 IIFA Award for Best Costume - Mohabbatein
 * 2002 IIFA Award for Best Costume for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...
 * 2004 IIFA Award for Best Costume for Kal Ho Naa Ho
 * Wizcraft Samsung IIFA Award for Costume Designing
 * 2017 IIFA Award for Best Costume Designing.

Filmfare Awards South
 * 2010 Filmfare Awards South for Costume Design - Enthiran