Blend trend: Indo-Western fusion shines in world of fashion

MUMBAI -- When Mumbai-based fashion designer Nadima Saqib started selling clothes to the Indian diaspora five years ago under her namesake label, she noticed that young women living outside the South Asian nation were not used to wearing traditional garments such as the shawl-like dupatta or the long, loose tunic known as the kurta. Instead, they would ask her to alter items into pieces such as a shirt to wear with a pair of jeans. That prompted Saqib to begin designing short tunics and styling them with matching trousers to create coordinated sets her clients would love.

Since then, the designer has drawn inspiration from Indian embroidery, crafts and folklore, infusing traditional elements into Western clothing like tube tops, blazers, shirts and gowns to create fusion-style garments. One of her latest collections features a burgundy blazer suit with gara embroidery -- a traditional craft from India's Parsi community -- worn over a lightweight bra top. Another outfit is a sleeveless jacket with shisha embroidery, which uses mirror fragments, worn under a blue-green paisley-printed cape and a pair of wide-leg pants with an embroidery waistband.