Istituto Marangoni alumnus Nikhil Mansata styled Indian actress Kalki Koechlin for the June 2014 issue of French Vanity Fair magazine. The editorial portrayed Kalki’s ethnically French but culturally Indian dual identity. The goal was well achieved thanks to the versatility of one of Bollywood’s best renowned stars and the talent of India’s most talented creatives – photographer R. Burman and our featured stylist Nikhil Mansata. “What we’re trained to do” said Mansata “is to make sure that what you wear is smart (and conducive) in front of the camera.” He’s got nice recollections of his years spent at Istituto Marangoni in London, where he studied Fashion Styling, commencing at the age of eighteen when he moved from his hometown of Calcutta. What he appreciated most was the fact that it wasn’t a mere fashion course, as students were constantly doing projects for the School, thus experiencing first hand and working closely with the real-world fashion industry. Since then he’s been working for Russian Vogue, TANK Publications, London, Conde Nast International London, Business of Fashion and the Indian editions of Vogue and Architectural Digest, and many others up to French Vanity Fair last June. To date, at 27, Mansata can be considered a successful, wherever possible non-conformist stylist who has been strong enough to maintain his presence in a Country like India where it is quite difficult to find followers by “breaking stereotypes, walking the line between editorial and commercial work” due to the absence of a niche indie publication. As he waits for the time to be ripe, he continues to collect “commercially viable” achievements while maintaining focus on one of his greatest aspirations: to style Indian actress and model Freida Pinto.