Every bride is looking for that distinctive look for her big day.

Manchester based fashion designer Krishna Nareshkumar Gandham offers a personal service to prospective brides through her online boutique amarnadesign.co.uk.


Here she talks to Asian Image about why the modern Asian British brides are opting for the tradition of specially handmade Indian outfits.

How did you get into fashion?   I have always been fascinated by rich and elaborate clothing.  When I was a little girl, my mum would dress my sisters and I up at every opportunity, whether it was a visit to the temple or to go to a wedding or party. 
Ever since then I have had a passion for designing and wearing bespoke pieces. 
Actually by education and profession I am a Forensic Scientist and work with the Police, but this is a passion of mine that I am lucky enough to indulge in outside of my work hours.  When you think of my profession, designing clothes does not seem to go hand in hand, but in my designs I can explore my creative side and I don't see this part of my life as work as I enjoy it so much. 

What inspires your designs? For me, inspiration comes from Life!  I love to travel and when I see shapes and patterns in architecture or fabrics in faraway  lands, I start to day dream about what type of outfit it would look right with. 
Also I cannot deny that I am a romantic and so love epic Bollywood movies, these inspire me.  When I design a piece for somebody, I get to know them a little first, and endeavour to work their personality and how they want to feel when they wear the oufit into the design. 

What kind of designs and colours seem to be the most popular? At the moment, I think the most popular colours and designs seem to be either over the top embellished or simple paired with lots of jewellery. 
We seem to moving back towards the more traditional dip hemmed dresses with lenghas and the 'Pakeezah' style chudidars.  I am loving the colours that popular at the moment, dark greens, bright oranges and purples. 

How long does the whole process take? For instance if someone comes to you with a request. Do you design their outfit for each individual person? Amarna is a bespoke design service, and so all pieces are created for the individual person. 
The client can have as much or as little say in how the outfit is created. 
From the day that someone comes to us for their first consultation the process takes 5 weeks, whether they want one or more outfits made. 

Why do you think a bespoke service like this is likely to be more appealing to prospective brides than going to shop and picking something off a rail?
With a bespoke service the bride can have exactly what she wants for her special day.  There is freedom to change anything about the outfit and have it colour matched to the grooms suit or the bridesmaids outfits.  A bespoke outfit means that it will fit perfectly and be much more comfortable to wear on the day. 

What has the response been so far following the launch of your website? Our website launched at the end of June and already we have had quite a few interested people contacting us for their free consultation. 
Before we launched our website we opened our Facebook page and through that our furst few clients contacted us and have had their outfits designed and delivered already.
The working of the outfits and their creation was periodically updated on Facebook so that everyone could see how they were coming along and then the finished outfit.
In celebration of launching the website, we are offering a beautiful lengha that I have created in the style of Ancient Bengal for a special introductory price.