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LIFESTYLE,
INDIA FASHION WEEK
Getting
Down To Business
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Tinsel
and Fiesta: Grand Finale
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With
all the funky, trendy garments sweeping the ramp, if the objective was
pure trade, its success is debatable. Designer Leena Singh moaned: "The
entire idea of buying and selling was defeated because there was so little
time. I got just 10 days to prepare my clothes." Or take Rajendra
Mohan of Delhi's Pall Mall store who did not register as a retailer because
he thought "it would be just another big party". He observed
caustically: "These designers don't want to give up the huge mark-ups
that they are used to." Still, some did well. Delhi-based Monisha
Bajaj, for instance, says she got orders from stores in Calcutta, Hyderabad
and Ahmedabad. Upcoming designer couple Abhishek Gupta and Nandita Basu
got bookings from Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta. Mohammed I. Murad, who owns
the Fasateen showroom in Dubai, plans to place orders with fashion diva
Ritu Kumar and Anuradha Vakil of Ahmedabad. But Murad sniffs, "Society
pages of Indian newspapers do not create international brands. Indian
designers have to do plenty more by way of marketing."
Tired of
their perennial-partying, non-serious image, this was the show they hoped
would get them respectability. By moving out of their exclusivity to the
volumes that ready-to-wear can bring, FDCI hopes to bring big business-in
the domestic and international markets-to what has essentially been an
incestuous cottage industry. For that, apart from displaying a dazzling
variety, they need to reduce their jaw-dropping prices and tie up with
manufacturers to make the big numbers. Though no significant amounts changed
hands at the fashion week, a bit of business did happen. While the organisers
claim that about 60 of the 90 or so buyers who registered had actually
turned up, no one could or would put a figure on the business transacted.
So, has
Indian fashion come of age? "India is definitely in vogue all over
Europe," says has-been model and fashion addict Queenie Singh Dodhy,
swaying sinuously in her aqua green Versace patent leather pant suit.
Top stores in London like Harvey Nichols and Harrods now sell beaded bags,
anklets and batik printed dresses sourced from India, but Made-in-India
westernwear still has few takers "They just don't have the same finish,"
Dhody cribs. Protests Bal, pulling at his short, tinted hair: "For
God's sake, where is the market for western clothes?"
Many Indian
designers tend to confuse the western look with being inanely skimpy.
Delhi party-hopper Devika Mehra, who is into international haute couture,
says, "You can't just drape a sari without a blouse and term it a
creation." Tina Tahiliani Parikh, who runs the successful store Ensemble,
is quietly guarded in her assessment of the creations presented last week.
"It's pretty obvious some are straight lifts from Fashion TV and
Vogue, but there is some creativity out there which will eventually get
noticed," she concedes.
So where do they go from here? As an industry they would hope to open
new markets for their lines. But lend a ear to Manish Arora, known for
his whacky outfits: "If my clothes don't sell, I'll wear them myself!"
Charity always begins at home, maybe fashion could too.
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The
stock markets are humming, and it's feel-good time once again, writes
INDIA TODAY Associate Editor V. Shankar Aiyar in 
