M Manish Arora Born in India and a graduate of New Delhi's National Institute of Fashion Technology, Manish Arora is a designer whose collections skillfully and ironically reflect a term heard with great frequency at the beginning the new millennium: "glocal," that is, the recognition of roots without ignoring the reality of globalization. Upon completing his studies, he settled in New Delhi, where he soon established himself as a designer and active participant in the world of fashion. In 1994, he won second prize in the Smirnoff Fashion Awards. A year later, he took second prize again in the Young Asian Designers Competition, in which he was also awarded the prize for the Most Original Col- lection. These awards brought him to the attention of the French edition of Vogue, which offered him a job as a designer, an offer which he turned down, preferring to remain in India and continue developing his own label--Manish Arora--and, later, a more informal line: Fish Fry. In September 2005, he debuted at London Fashion Week. The critical reception was excel- lent and served as a calling card for Europe and the beginning of collaborations with such big-name brands as Swatch, Reebok and MAC. And the fact is, the time has come for traditional runways in Milan, Paris and London to be "corrupted" by a rich infusion of designs that break aesthetic molds fixed by the West and make the most illustrious fashionistas squirm in their front-row seats. Photography courtesy of Manish Arora 425 Manish Arora