LONDON â€" It is not often that stilt walkers wearing columns of silk sway and totter on the pavement on New Bond Street. But on Wednesday evening, towering models in a fanfare of silk outfits embroidered with tiny mirrors greeted guests, including the steel baron Lakshmi Mittal and film director Gurinder Chadha, at a book launch and auction for the celebrated Indian designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla.
“India Fantastique†is a two-volume coffee-table book celebrating the 25-year partnership of the two couturiers from India, who met by chance in 1986 and set up a small boutique store in Juhu, Mumbai called Mata Hari. It was the beginning of an unlikely clothing and interior design empire (neither of the two had formal training) which became a favorite of the film industry A-list, such as the Indian actress Dimple Kapadia,  and royalty, like Britain's Princess Anne.
Written by the art critic Gayatri Sinha, with photography by Ram Shergill, the 616-page book showcases hundreds of fashions and interiors.  Mr. Shergill was granted license to “have fun†with the book, Mr. Khosla said, so the photographer has put the designers' iconic outfits on models and celebrities including Hrithik Roshan and Shah Rukh Khan, and placed them in locations from Death Valley and Brighton's Royal Pavilion to Morocco and the Lake Palace in Udaipur.
Mr. Jani and Mr. Khosla's designs, which are known for their intricate embroidery, were first stocked at Harrods and Harvey Nichols in London in 1989. Their work came to Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus in New York as a range of shawls under the “Shakira Caine†label. Their outfits have been fea tured in films including Devdas and The World Is Not Enough and worn by actors such as Amitabh Bachchan and Dame Judi Dench. Both Mr. Bachchan and Dame Judi were at Wednesday's launch, which was held at Sotheby's London headquarters, where an exhibition of the designers' work was shown.
Sporting a black-and-gold dress coat made by the designers, Mr. Bachchan said, “Abu and Sandeep are like my wife Jaya's rakhi brothers,†referring to the Hindu holiday celebrating the bond between sisters and brothers. The designers “were always referred to as ‘the boys' and they still are,†he said. “They create a very elegant way of dressing. Regal is the closest I can get to describing it. I'm certainly feeling very regal tonight,†he added.
Mr. Bachchan's coat, which cost £5,000 ($7,950) to make, was auctioned for £10,500 to a bidder named “Mrs. Gandhi,†with proceeds going to Breakthrough, a global human rights organization. A photograph of Mr. B achchan wearing the coat, signed by both him and Mr. Shergill, went for £5,000.
Dame Judi described her first encounter with the designers' work, during the filming of The World Is Not Enough: “There was a scene I did with Sophie Marceau, and I don't think I looked her in the eye at all, I was so busy looking at the coat she was wearing.†The designers “really are the most phenomenal two people who always come to my rescue, whether it's for the Oscars or another occasion,†she said. The duo have dressed Dench for several Oscar and Bafta award ceremonies.
During a tour of the exhibition the day before the book launch, Mr. Khosla showed off some of his creations. He squatted down and fanned out a richly multicoloured outfit, so thickly woven it practically stood up on its own. “There are 40 embroidered panels here, taken from various bridal gowns including those belonging to Vanisha Mittal, daughter of Lakshmi Mittal, and the actress Amrita Singh,†he said.
“When we first started, we didn't have the money to keep samples, so we had to recall items from clients for the exhibition,†he said.
Previous clients include the Ambani, Hinduja and Mittal families.
The majority of the outfits are handmade from silk, featuring a complicated embroidery processes known as chikankari, which is unique to Lucknow, where the designers employ 150 local female artisans to create their pieces. The also use zardozi, a gold thread embroidery from Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, and vasli, a form of  embroidery over paper. One chikankari outfit requires six people, working eight hours a day, for eight months to finish, and prices start at £3,000.
In addition to clothing, Mr. Jani and Mr. Khosla are passionate about interior design. In 1993 they started a furniture line, and have since expanded to designing home interiors for Dimple Kapadia and the Bachchans. Mr. Khosla pointed to a hand-painted wooden table and two chairs that were borrowed from a customer's London home for the exhibition.
“Indian craftsmanship is second to none,†he said. “Abu and I wanted to spend money and time to revive and encourage these techniques to continue. We have artisans in India, who could still build the Taj Mahal today.â€
“We are unabashedly Indian in our aesthetic,†Mr. Jani is fond of saying “and passionately in love with the rich cultural, historic and design legacy of our land.â€
(That passion does beg the question, however: Why were no Indian models to be found among the 12 used to showcase the collection at the launch?)
India Fantastique is published by Thames & Hudson and priced at £95.
