He might not have had the best budget in the world to play with for his first major showing.

But Shahzad Kalim needn't have worried.

"Talent like this is not going to be bothered by money. All they want is to show what they are made of. And he did," said Wendell Rodricks, one of the most respected designers in India.

Going by the industry's reaction to his early morning showing at the Lakme India Fashion Week 2005, 24-year-old Shahzad certainly seems to have arrived.

Winner of Star One's reality show, Lakme Fashion House, Shahzad was chosen from among 16 contestants, and will go to Milan to intern with Donatella Versace for six months.

In the picture: Shahzad Kalim, the first designer at the Lakme India Fashion Week 2005 who got a standing ovation.

Text: Sita Menon
Photographs: Jewella C Miranda