It will be the first time that an 11-year-old girl will showcase her collection in a fashion festival.

She is Pune's youngest designer

It will be the first time that an 11-year-old girl will showcase her collection in a fashion festival.

Prachi Badve, a Std VI student of Abhinav Vidyalaya English Medium School, is all geared up to display her designs at the upcoming Pune Fashion Week. Her confidence, knowledge about latest trends, fabrics and international fashion events can definitely take you by surprise.

What started off as a hobby at the age of three, has now become a career choice for this young girl. "When Priyanka Chopra became Miss India, I loved the gown she was wearing. I wanted to make some changes to her design, which I did later, and that's how my interest for designing started," said this little fashion guru.

But it wasn't an easy task convincing her parents to let her pursue her passion. A lot of balancing between her studies, games and designing had to be done. Badve never fails to get less than 80 per cent in her exams and it keeps her parents happy.

Her parents, Pooja and Shrinivas Badve, give her the freedom to balance work and academics. Her mother said, "We come from a simple Maharashtrian family and this is something we could never think of. When her grades dropped the teacher called me to school and blasted me. She also showed the designs Prachi had in her copies.
I promised Prachi that if she gets around 90 per cent in her exams, I will arrange a fashion show for her." So in May 2008, on her birthday, she had her first fashion show with her friends walking the ramp.u00a0

Her dream is to showcase her collection at the Milan Fashion Week which according to her is the 'Big Daddy of Fashion Weeks' and wants to have Priyanka Chopra as her showstopper.

Her interests are one piece dresses and for the Fashion Week, she will be presenting Indo-western dresses in natural colours. "For the showstopper, I have used a fabric which has never been used before. I do not want to say much and kill the suspense," said the young designer.

She has completed a one year diploma course in Fashion Designing from Vidyanchal Institute of Design.
Satyajit Joglekar, of N'igma Production House, said, "We were surprised to see such a talent in the city. That girl has designed around 200 gowns and each piece looked beautiful. We had to get her for the fashion week."