NEWSMAKER-Megha shows Mittal family steel in fashion coup

* Megha Mittal buys German fashion house Escada

* Determined 33-year old wins bidding war against 18 rivals

* Wharton graduate to bring German style icon back to life

By Eva Kuehnen

FRANKFURT, Nov 6 (Reuters) - By snapping up insolvent German fashion house Escada (ESCG.DE), Megha Mittal, daughter-in-law of steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, launched the type of corporate coup more associated with her famous namesake.

Megha Mittal -- wife of ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS) finance chief Aditya Mittal -- won the bidding war for the German fashion icon on Thursday over rivals including Sven Ley, the son of Escada founder Wolfgang Ley.

The 33-year-old agreed to buy all the key assets of Escada's operating business, including the brand, for an undisclosed price, leaving the current management surrounding Chief Executive Bruno Saelzer in place.

"There is a chance to restore its old glory," Escada's insolvency administrator, Christian Gerloff, said after the deal.

Escada, once one of the world's top fashion labels, had to file for insolvency in August after years of diminishing sales took their toll and a broad restructuring plan failed to win approval from bondholders.

"Megha always had an eye [for design]," said Alan Hughes, course director and vice principal at London's Inchbald School of Design, where Mittal completed a one-year diploma in architectural design.

"I think most probably at the back of her mind she wants a design business that would incorporate interiors, fashion, graphics -- she has that kind of view that everything is connected," he added.

SHOW YOUR METTLE

Her financial background will come in handy for her latest project. She specialised in finance and strategic management at U.S. alma mater Wharton Business School, where she also met her husband. They got married in 1998 and have two daughters.

After working for her family's textile business in India, she got a job at Goldman Sachs in investment research in 2000, covering telecom, media and technology stocks. "It wasn't her passion," said a person close to her who asked not to be named.