Prachi Badve A Twelve-year-old has designs on Kareena

If four-year-olds can turn catwalk queens, then who says a pre-teen can�t design an entire clothing line? Twelve-year-old Prachi Badve, who first raised eyebrows by participating at the Pune Fashion Week at the age of nine, made her Mumbai debut at the recently-concluded India Kids Fashion Week.

�Teachers would complain that her grades were dropping because her notebooks were filled with sketches of dresses,� mom Pooja recalls.

The family finances Prachi�s collections, shelling out huge participation fees for the various fashion weeks. �We were worried about spending that kind of money on such a young child, but I reasoned that if she wanted to be a doctor, we would have invested about Rs 50 lakh in her education anyway,� says Pooja.

And if you thought that she was all talent, no technique, Prachi has already completed a diploma course in fashion designing at the Vidyanchal Institute in her native Pune. �After my first fashion week, there were lots of offers to study at various institutes. The schedule here matched my school timings, so I chose this,� she explains.

But the pre-teen, who wants to be the �most established designer in the world and dress Kareena Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan one day�, snaps at any question of her parents� involvement. �I don�t know why people keep asking whether my parents are forcing me to do this, or if my mother designs the clothes and I take credit. No one in my family is involved in fashion,� she protests.

Her mother adds, �All 65 garments that she�s designed so far are lying in my house. I don�t want people to think I�m using my daughter to set up a business. I�m just helping build her brand. Once she�s old enough, she can turn professional.�

newa source: .hindustantimes.com