For the J. Mendel label's spring collection, shown Friday at New York Fashion Week, designer Gilles Mendel did everything he could to make it cool.

He wasn't aiming for that leather-jacket sort of cool, nor was he necessarily striving for temperature cool since he showed fur on clothes that are supposed to be for warm weather. Instead, Mendel's line was cool in that grace-under-pressure way that his socialite customers appreciate.

Many of them were indeed in the audience at the Bryant Park tents, as were celebrities Carrie Underwood, Jamie-Lynn Sigler and LeAnn Rimes.

They had their choice of a sand-colored sleeveless coat dress, a white cotton pantsuit with lattice-style details and white python trim or a lavender satin-faced chiffon dress with ruching, more lattice patterns and feathers.

Hand full of designs

Armed with a degree in designing from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, designer duo Rahul Mishra and Samar Firdos debuted at the First Lakme Fashion Week. Inspired from the artisans and craftsmen of Bhuj in Gujarat, the designers showcased the Bandhni collection at the Australia Fashion Week this year.

With the motto 'tap without tampering', the designers have contemporised the Indian craft by blending it with western silhouettes. With no digital printing, texturing has been achieved by tying thousands of knots by hand on mulberry silk. The line offers skirts, dresses, blouses and gowns in stretchable fabric, making it comfortable and adaptable to all sizes. "We dream about taking Indian crafts internationally, after giving it an international look with the help of traditional weaving techniques," the designers sum up.