Two to tango?

Fri, Jul 25 12:50 AM

Indian fashion, like life, is full of surprises. As expected, the Third Front is formed and yet another fashion week is on the anvil.

So we have three fashion weeks in the same season - that's a distinction which I doubt anyone else anywhere else in the world can stake claim on. Whether this is good or bad for the industry time will tell, but a few doubts should now be put forward for clarification.

When the Lakm and #233;-IMG faction started its fashion week after IMG lost its contract with the Fashion Design Council of India, most senior FDCI members brushed it aside saying it was a commercial venture and that FDCI was the official body that could work for the benefit of Indian fashion. Now, what exactly would you call an enterprise by some of the same people who rallied behind the FDCI at that time? If the FDCI is, as they had said then, the official body of our designers, would it be appropriate to see this new venture also as a "commercial venture", a phrase they themselves had used then? Says Sumeet Nair, consultant to the new venture, "As everyone knows by now, I had a few ideas that I wanted to implement at the FDCI and could not.

This venture is to implement those ideas and take the industry forward. I do not mind working in tandem with the FDCI, provided they agree.

" Is this friendly? Then comes the question of having two fashion weeks in the same city at the same time. Overlapping of the dates (Nair's show spans October 14-18 and FDCI's October 15-19) may not be seen as something 'international'.

Globally, fashion week shows do take place at the main venue and other places (off sites), but they are simultaneous rather than competitive - simply pieces of a large pie distributed around the table for a friendly meal. In the Indian scenario, things may be less friendly.

Is it possible that buyers and media invited for one event will be allowed - or even willing - to go to the other event, especially when their expenses are paid by either of the two organising bodies? "I do not see any problem," says Nair. "I can't impose any restrictions on the buyer or the journalist.

They are free to go and see shows wherever they choose to." Nair is willing to share his list of designers with the FDCI, too, and co-operate on fixing show schedules so that both sides benefit.

Resource crunch However, Sunil Sethi, the new FDCI president, considers all of this impractical. "This is going to inconvenience everyone," he says.

The country does not have enough top-quality choreographers, technicians and make-up artists for two overlapping fashion weeks to share, he points out. "As for sharing the list of designers and fixing schedules, if the list [from the other side] is shown to us, we will take a decision after discussing with our members," he adds.

Then comes the physical space required by two neck-and-neck fashion weeks. We are not in London, Paris, Milan or New York.

We live in Delhi, where traffic sense is probably the worst in the country, if not the world. For a journalist of a buyer, it would not be practical to shuttle between Pragati Maidan (the venue of FDCI's fashion week) and the DLF Emporio (site of the new fashion week) covering at least 12-15 km beating Delhi traffic.

Whoever attempts that is likely to miss shows on both sides - and maybe end up on a stretcher, felled by exhaustion. Abroad, since off-site shows are part of the same fashion week, they slot off- and on-site shows in a way that avoids overlap.

Organisers also provide free shuttle services for the media and buyers, since they are part of the same event. Such a shuttle service in Delhi will take 45 minutes at the very least to go from one venue to another.

If anyone wants to watch several shows a day on both sides, they would have to spend six hours commuting. What this would mean is anyone's guess!.

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