The Maharaja’s free clothes!

Designers handing out freebies to celebrities at their store launches is common knowledge, what’s not is that now the Indian Maharaja will be sporting free designer threads!
When Air India and Indian Airlines merges to form a single entity on July 15, the male crew would be sporting uniforms by French designer Pierre Cardin while the ladies will throw out their dull saris often described as ‘Karol Bagh’ rejects at best) to don Ritu Beri threads.
But what’s bothering fellow designers no end is that that when Air India had floated a tender for the uniforms in April 2005, Ritu Beri wasn’t even among the five short-listed designers. The final choice was to be made between Tarun Tahiliani and JJ Valaya!
“I would be designing the complete attire for all the female staff in the airline,” confirmed Ritu Beri. “Also, we would design ties for the men, cockpit and cabin crew. The idea is to synchronise their look to the female crew.”
But how and why the authorities decided to hand over the contract to Beri has baffled both Tarun Tahiliani and JJ Vallaya — they didn’t even know that Beri had bagged the contract till After Hours contacted them.
Though Tarun chose to stay mum, Valaya was dismayed.
Says VA Ferreira, head of in-flight services for Air India, “Let me tell you, the new uniforms are tremendously vibrant and just out of this world.” When asked about the previous tender, he said, “That is history. Let me tell you that Ritu Beri is doing the uniforms free of cost…out of love for the national carrier. Let the Tarun’s and the JJ’s not try and make waves where none exist.”
20/06/07 Kabeer Sharma /Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Air India Jun 2007