Soni Razdan, Sona Mahapatra mourns Wendell Rodricks's death

Wendell Rodricks. Image sourced from mid-day archives.

Well known fashion designer Wendell Rodricks passed away on Wednesday evening following a prolonged illness. He was 59 years old.

Speaking to IANS on Wednesday, Nilakanth Halarnkar, BJP MLA from the Thivim Assembly constituency and a longtime associate of the 60-year-old designer confirmed his death. "Yes, it is true. He died at 5.45 p.m. today. He was ailing for a long time," Halarnkar said.

Family sources said that the funeral is scheduled for Thursday.

The ace fashion designer's death was mourned by several Bollywood and fashion celebrities who took to Twitter to express their condolences.

Soni Razdan said that Rodricks was too young to go like this. She expressed shock at the fashion designer's death.

Just like Razdan, Sona Mahapatra also expressed shock at his demise.

Shruti Seth wrote, "This is just shocking and so so sad."

My Brother Nikhil and I Am fame director Onir also expressed his condolences on Wendell Rodricks's demise.

Born in 1960 in Goa, got trained in Los Angeles and Paris. After designing for companies like Garden Vareli, cosmetic giant Lakme and diamond corporate DeBeers, Rodricks established his own label in 1990. He was awarded a Padma Shri in 2014 and was also accorded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts Et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 2015. As a designer, he was credited with reviving the Kunbi saree, worm by the indigenous Kunbi tribal women of Goa.

He had also acted in a film named Boom in 2003 and made an appearance in the television play True West in 2002. He also played a cameo as himself in the film Fashion.

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