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Goodwill hunting!

As the country's biggest fashion extravaganza ends, Anuj Kumar looks at the new equation

THE MARCH IS ON Designers shed shine and colour to be one with the world. Here is Rina Dhaka's collection on show at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Photo: R.V. Moorthy

So the fortnight of Weeks is over and with it has dawned a fashion equation where the positives and the negatives continue to combat each other. First, the Lakme Fashion Week came riding on the Bollywood wave. No harm in that. We expected as Bollywood has stood up to Hollywood over the years, our costume designers led by Manish Malhotra and Rocky S will also brave the Parisian tide.

But it was not to be. Only the mannequins remained filmy, in an attempt to look international most compromised with their individual styles. Result being 10 of the 30 designers on show have been selected to showcase in IMG-organised fashion weeks across the world. It's ironical that it took six years for IMG to put one Ashish Soni on the international circuit, and suddenly the company has discovered a designer mine in the country. The range is amazing - Sonam Dubal to Surily Goel. A senior designer on condition of anonymity says, "It's like taking a sheep to the grass field before throwing it in front of a tiger."

Westward ho!

Then the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week followed. Here again a foreign buyer, that too from Europe and America, was on everybody's mind. Such was the fervour to follow the forecast that even Rina Dhaka got inundated in laces. The realisation being West Asia - easy option for the cash is huge and the buyer is not finicky about sizes and centimetres in hemline - and South Asia add to the bank balance but it doesn't append to the creativity and standing. But how much does an average foreign buyer buy - 20-30 pieces. "Even if somebody is ready to order, designers don't have the infrastructure to deliver in time. So they buy a few pieces and ask their manufacturing unit to create numbers out of them. For them Indian designers are some exotic names, nothing more," grins Pradeep Hirani of Kimaya. Differs Chantal Rousseau, Vice President, Bloomingdales, Europe, "It's better to buy a few pieces rather than getting stacked with a thousand pieces if they don't sell." Agrees Payal Jain, "This at least leaves the option of the buyer coming back to you. Nothing could be worse for a designer to be marked down."

And India? "India is still the dirty word. Their bread and butter might come from the domestic market but they won't accept it in public," says Hirani. This despite, he adds, "There is hardly any foreign buyer who has attended more than two years in a row or has not been flown in."

Meanwhile, publicity stunts found their way to Delhi as well - Tania Zaetta in body paint, Brian Lara, Shilpa Shetty... only the ways were a tad sombre than Mumbai. Giving the first row a serious touch, Raghavendra Rathore invited Sabeer Bhatia. "I also invited Anil Ambani for these are the people who could take fashion forward in the country. Unfortunately, he could not make it."

Road ahead

What's the road ahead? For the numbers to increase, Rousseau, impressed with the works of both Manish Arora and Rajesh Pratap Singh, says designers have to cut down on the embroidery part and improve the quality of fabrics. "Also like the Japanese designers did, Indians have to come out as a group on the world stage," advises Didier Grumbach, President, Federation Francaise de la couture, du prêt-a-porter des couturier. Didier says the size of orders won't increase unless the distribution network and infrastructure improves in the country. Agrees Hirani, "How can they sell numbers abroad when prêt is not succeeding in the country because of the lack of infrastructure. The good thing is with so many creative minds around now I can pick the right guy." Somebody who stores 80-odd designers, Hirani says selecting a designer is no longer based on gut feeling, it has become a science. "With so much talent around creativity is now on one of the factors. There was a time when designers used to deliver fall winter when spring summer was about to start. Today I can pick a disciplined younger guy. Public image has also become a crucial factor." Adam Levin of Elle says like the Japanese succeeded in making kimono global, Indians have to shed their overt ethnicity to be one with the world. He talks of experimenting with the silhouette something, which Gaurav Gupta and Namrata Joshipura did. Would sari survive in designer stores? Pradeep says, "Yes, but one has to be extra creative like hand painted, unusual patch work and the like."

Raghavendra Rathore holds it's time senior designers concentrate on the domestic market and support the youngsters to take on the world. Most seniors have reached a saturation stage and it's better to go down in your own country. Leave it to Gaurav Guptas to tap the world."

As for the public, they had to be content with television images. They can't even know how much their designers are earning from the Week that is holding so much media space for free. "The Week is the starting place for business and FDCI doesn't track the designers afterwards," says Rathi Vinay Jha, Executive Director, FDCI demanding a fashion district from the government.

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