Manish in wonderland

Manish Arora and Alexander McQueen — the British designer who committed suicide earlier this month — on the same platform. That’s the scene at the windows of department store Printemps in Paris.

Manish Arora and Alexander McQueen — the British designer who committed suicide earlier this month — on the same platform. That’s the scene at the windows of department store Printemps in Paris.

To celebrate the release of Tim Burton’s new film, Alice in Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, the store asked top international designers to create their own Alice dress, to be featured in its windows. India’s ace designer Arora and McQueen both feature on that list, along with others such as Haider Ackermann and Nicholas Kirkwood. The windows went up this week in Paris and will be on display till March 14.

Arora’s creation has playing cards made of the same foam material as the dress, and also has tiny crystals. “He’s participating as a global name in fashion,” says a source close to Arora.

The collection based on the film may be grabbing eyeballs, but the film itself, releasing March 10, is in the middle of a controversy. British cinemas have boycotted Alice In Wonderland over a dispute regarding the film’s DVD launch.