New Delhi, March 28. (PTI): Stylist Manish Arora may not be the first Indian to be invited abroad to showcase his designs, but he may well be the first to have cracked the code on what fashion capital Paris wants from Indian designers.

Arora's future-in-outer space inspired line at the Wills India Fashion Week would have come across as shocking to the uninitiated, but international buyers felt that's what made his collection unique in a show that had its usual quota of ethnic designs.

"Manish Arora is a designer who takes risks and then wins," said Didier Grumbach, president of Federation Francaise de la Couture Du Pret-a-porter des Couturiers et des Createurs de Mode, who has invited the Indian stylist to the Paris Fashion Week in September-October.

While most of the designers at the premier Indian fashion event previewed styles for the next season, Arora's collection was a forecast of what people will sport in 2015 -- which won him admiration from the visiting London Fashion Week representative as well.

"Manish Arora's work is of international standards with something unique and new. He is ready to enter the international arena and show his collection outside India. Anamika has an interesting point of view too," said Anna Orisini, President of London Fashion Week.

Robin from Paris-based Maria Luisa, a famous fashion house, said that the Parisian market was looking for something unique and surprising, but felt most of the designers, like Valaya, were catering to the Indian market.

"I like Valaya, but he is focused on the Indian market. It is not for our store or Paris. On the other hand, some designers try to be bit more trendy than necessary and forget this show is about being unique," Robin said.

While buyers do emphasise on uniqueness and a touch of India in garments, they refrain from putting their money on a collection that is too traditional.

"The wedding collection from Valaya was good, but something like this would not sell at a store in Paris, said Robin of fashion house Maria Luisa.

Besides designs and trends, buyers also keep in mind the infrastructural strength of a designer before placing orders with them.

"We also take into consideration the infrastructure that a designer has. We visit factories, look through past records and qualifications of the designers to be sure that they would deliver on time," Pradeep Hirani from fashion house Kimaya said.

The ability of the designer to mould the trends forecast for the next few months with Indian needs is also an important criteria for buyers, he added.

The just concluded India Fashion Week saw attendance by over 80 international buyers from 19 countries, besides at least 100 domestic buyers. Popular names like Maria Luisa and Le Bon Marche from Paris, Bloomingdales, Kuwait's Jashanmal, SunMotoyama from Japan and Anthropologie Inc from US shopped at the fashion extravaganza.

"We are looking for modernised outfits but with an Indian touch like embroidery and vibrant colours because that is what the country is known for. While traditional garments like sarees would not sell too well in the Middle East countries, long kurtas and kaftans are very popular there and that is what we would be taking home," Kuwaiti-based designer house Jisa, Managing Director Hiba Al-Ateeqi, told PTI.

Meanwhile, in their bid to woo foreign buyers, designers sometimes tend to overlook the huge domestic market, with regions yet to be tapped by fashion stylists.

This led to Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath pointing out that Indian designers should also tap the enormous domestic market.

"There are 31 cities with a population of over ten million and about 25 million are added in the middle class every year. There are Greenfield areas that have not been reached yet and designers should cater to the huge potential in their country," he said.

Indian designers, who have their largest market in India itself sometimes target both the local and international buyers with their collection and hold two different shows for them.

"We participate in two different sets of shows. While in this show we are targeting the European and Gulf market with our collection of kaftans, we have already done shows for our domestic clientele. You cannot tell the buyers that you are focused on just one market," Leena of the Ashima-Leena designer duo said.

She said, it was difficult to pack in the entire collection in a show that would attract interest from both the markets.

The Indian buyers, however, are looking at a certain professional level of cuts and finish before selecting a designer.

"We have already placed orders with both young and established designers. Established designers have the advantage of finer cut and better finish," Kavita Jalal from Hyderabad-based designer house 'Also' said.