“Fashion and beauty go hand-in-hand. We all desire to be fashionable and beautiful. That is why it’s good business,” says Banu, a homemaker-turned-stylist. Her friend Aishwarya who runs a women’s salon from the front room of her house at Anna Nagar, agrees, “Both young and old need beauty solutions these days. Gone are the days, when women relied on turmeric and sandalwood. It’s the era of cosmetics and brands.” The mushrooming of beauty parlours – some swanky and elite and some humble and operating out of pigeon holes, are a testimony to what these women say. Madurai of late, has witnessed a growth in the number of boutiques, fashion outlets, beauty shops, hi-tech salons and parlours. A new wave of style-consciousness seems to have swept the city’s denizens.
As the number of customers to the beauty and fashion industry goes up, there are as many upcoming stylists and designers. While many aspiring designers flock to the metros to learn the art of fashion, there are few places in the city, giving the exposure to small town dwellers. One such is the Laurus Edutech Academy that offers training and placement in various skill-development courses.
The Academy’s beauty courses formulated in collaboration with Naturals has opened its door to the city.
Set in partnership with the National Skill Development Corporation under the Ministry of Finance, the academy’s Madurai branch is the third in the State after two in Chennai.
“The space and facilities are provided by Naturals Salon while faculties from the academy visit for imparting training to the students,” says Murali Krishnan, MD of Kalyani Associates and the franchisee of the Salon on Gokhale Road.
Over 40 courses are on offer ranging from one week to six months. “Skill-oriented crash courses have become popular among all age groups,” says Murali.
Ramesh from Sivaganga, a student at the academy has taken up a hair-styling course. “Earlier I was a barber at a roadside salon for men. These days even the middle-aged prefer stylish cuts and treatments and I feel the need to be better-equipped,” says Ramesh.
Dharmaraj from Tiruchi is also a barber-turned-men’s stylist, who currently works at Naturals. “It’s heartening to know that the job of hair-styling which was traditionally frowned upon, has now become something of pride and dignity.”
Siva, the visiting faculty from Chennai, says that more number of fashion stylists hail from small towns. “At academies like these, we provide hands-on training to people where they practically learn various services such as facials, pedicure, manicures, massages and overall styling. With each successive session their skills get refined and they get attractive placements and pay packages later. Some even choose to become entrepreneurs running their own small salon businesses,” adds Siva.
Next door, at Lady Doak College, young girls are learning the nuances of designing fashionable ensembles. The college has started a three-year degree course in Fashion designing which is getting overwhelming response from the city girls. “Finding so many takers for Fashion Designing, we extended our Diploma into a degree course,” says Anita Jasmine, senior faculty, who completed a crash course in fashion from the Government Polytechnic in the early 90’s. The first batch has over 30 students enrolled. The course includes pattern marking, fashion illustration, stitching, embellishments and draping.
Faculties Jessica and Sathya are Madurai-based fashionistas who learnt all about fashion in Chennai. “Even as a kid, I was interested in fashion. More than being a designer, teaching fashion gives me happiness. Girls here are pretty innovative as they come up with out of the box designs,” says Jessica. Amrita, a student, says that her interest in watching ramp shows made her choose fashion, while Sonia points to the Bollywood outfits that always fascinated her. “I would like to become a menswear designer as it’s a challenge to design innovative outfits for men,” says Durgesh Nandini. Manisha says her inspiration comes from ace designer Manish Malhotra. “I want to launch a label in Madurai and make the city proud instead of moving to big cities,” she says.
