India is the mother of colors, sure, but sometimes life in New Delhi gets really, really dull. But there are a few remedies to the gray city life, and one that I strongly recommend if you need a quick good-mood enhancer, is popping into Alpana Bawa's fashion store. The shop, opened in 2005 in the Garden Village, is a blast of colors, selected fabrics, customized patterns, geometrical shapes. Every item is a special piece: the attention given to details and the research in shapes and patterns are evident. But what, above everything, is striking, is the "almost obsessive" - Alpana says - experimentation with color combinations.

Since Alpana has begun designing her own clothing line in the late 80s in New York, her signature has been the peculiar selection and usage of colors. She has chosen "her" colors, season after season, regardless the current diktat of the latest trends, thus managing to create fashion items that last longer than a season.

"The first time I worked with colors, I was still in fashion school in New York. At the time I was only designing in black, and as an assignment I was asked to design a collection without black.", tells the designer, "When I showed my work to the teacher, he said that I had a really good sense for color. It was the first compliment I had ever received out there! I thought it was worth exploring that direction a bit more. And, essentially ever since, my signature became the absolute absence of black in my collections".

In 2005, after over fifteen years of success in New York City (and the world), Alpana decided to come back to her motherland, and opened a store in New Delhi. Her initial plan was to spend only a couple of months every year in India and continue working from New York City; but India proved to be stronger than her programs, so now Alpana lives in New Delhi for half the year, and has shifted her production to India.

Alpana's shop in New Delhi, together with her store in the East Village in New York City, is the only place where you can Alpana Bawa's full collection. The boutique is a small happy treat for your eyes. I like going there on foggy winter afternoons or on torrid summer ones, and spend some time enjoying her world of colorful clothes, with designs that often seem stolen from a geometry class' blackboard.

Oh, and you might even end up meeting her in the shop. Glowing in her colorful outfit, she is the best ambassador of her own design. She'll be happy to explain to you the idea behind every piece, and to work with you on customized designs.