Designers cat fight over collection

In the days of social networking, an ugly face reared its head between Mumbai-based

designer Drashta Sarvaiya, who shot to fame with her stunning collection at the Lakme Fashion Week and wowed audiences at this year’s Paris Fashion Week. She alleges fellow designer, Delhi-based Aanchal Chanda of design plagiarism. Sarvaiya has approached the police seeking investigation into an alleged theft of her work by Chanda. According to Sarvaiya, a couple of days ago, she received an email from a client in Dubai saying an Indian designer was trying to sell a collection similar to the one created by Sarvaiya. The Mumbai designer is on the war path. She says this incident has shocked her. She recently started an online store to ensure her clients all over the world can access her designs. The entire collection is on the website. The email was sent by Zayan Ghandour, who is associated with a store named Sauce in Dubai. They had purchased Sarvaiya’s designs and the email mentioned that Chanda was trying to sell them the same designs. The email clearly mentioned Aanchal Chanda’s new British- European collection.

Sarvaiya doesn’t stop there. She says Chanda is one of her contacts on a social networking site and she actually contacted her clients using the medium. When Sarvaiya got to know about this, she contacted Chanda. Of course, she feigned ignorance and denied copying Sarvaiya’s designs. Chanda, who has an office in the US and caters exclusively to women in the Middle East gave her side of the story. Chanda says Sarvaiya called her up and was extremely abusive. However, she told Sarvaiya to forward the email. Sarvaiya sent the mail, but it had no details of similar designs whatsoever. Chanda adds that the designs that appear in the email are not hers but Sarvaiya refuses to listen.