My jig stole the limelight from my clothes: James Ferreira

Fashion designer James Ferreira may be a last minute addition to the fashion week that will kick start in Mumbai today (he’s replaced designer Manish Malhotra) but that has not dampened his spirit to put his best foot forward. James says that he’s super-excited to put up a show in Mumbai after a gap of nearly six years.

He even says that putting together a collection was much of a task because his workshop is always full of garments that he cuts and keeps to create various styles when he feels like. “I cut everyday, literally. I just love cutting. I’ve so many clothes that I haven’t paraded on the ramp yet, so this show gave me a chance to do just that,” says James.

“I think I’m lucky to get this opportunity to show in Mumbai, the last time I did so was in 2006. I’m sad that Manish had to back out, he must’ve thought a lot about how to conduct his show, so it must’ve been hard,” says James who will be putting up a collection that will talk about combatting pollution in the city. Did he have to change his plans to accommodate the show tonight? “Not me, but my workers had to do that,” he says adding, “My workers were supposed to be on leave, after putting up shows at the recent fashion week in Delhi and in Colombo, but they had to come back.

I’m lucky to have a great team, which is why I’m able to sail through a show at the last minute too,” says James, positivity ringing in his tone. Talking about his collection, James says it’s an attempt to create awareness about  the alarming levels of pollution in the city. “We have to think about our city, especially our children. The pollution levels are so high, what kind of a future are we going to leave them behind with? I’ll start the show with darkness and then light up the ramp,” says James, the dark to light theme perhaps signifying hope for our future generations.

Talking about his love for showing in the city, James says that Mumbai has to fight hard to win back the title of fashion capital from Delhi. “It’s high time we realized that fashion and Bollywood are two different elements and there needs to be that divide,” he opines. Remind him about the jig he did when he came to take a bow during his recent show in Delhi and he says that he might not indulge in one tonight. “My jig stole the limelight from my clothes. This time the focus should be only my clothes,” he laughs.