While Australia are battling India on cricket pitches, a gentle Aussie is preoccupied with something else — the runway, not the runs. Juli Grbac, a Brisbane-based designer who won the television show Project Runway Australia, has been invited to create a collection for Brand India, an exhibition to be held on November 12 and 13 in Melbourne and on November 16 and 17 in Sydney.

Hers will be an India-inspired line and she is doing some last-minute scouting for indigenous fabrics and busy collaborating with designer Harmeet Bajaj and two factories in the NCR. “When one comes to India, one can’t help being affected by the colours of the country. And the kind of workmanship here is way better than what you see in Australia,” says Grbac. Little wonder that her otherwise muted collection has undergone a chromatic change. The balloon shorts sport a heavily beaded hemline and the finale piece will be a juicy magenta gown inspired by the Pink City. Grbac is even planning to start a production unit in Delhi.