Anjalee and Arjun Kapoor today have established a fashion business empire. They may have flagship stores in Delhi, Mumbai and Dubai but they never earned the respect of the design fraternity. The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) has rejected their membership application. Why??? Well Anjalee and Arjun Kapoor’s reputation of copying designs of other established designers can never be erased.
Siblings Ankita and Avantika Chowdhury who design under the label – Saaj seem to be emulating the business model of Anjalee and Arjun Kapoor. The siblings have been retailing from their store at Shahpur Jat near replicas of Tarun Tahiliani, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and few more designers’ at one-fourth the price. It is so damn unethical and must be condemned by people who respect and love fashion.
Unfortunately unlike Anjalee and Arjun Kapoor, Saaj is a member of FDCI and have also been showcasing at the India Fashion Weeks. I sincerely hope the Board takes note of this and take necessary action. Ban the copy-cats!
Guess it is time to get the news out!
The person replacing Anjana Sharma (who was fired recently) at IMG Reliance comes in from Wills Lifestyle – the Apparel business division of ITC. He was with Wills Lifestyle since its inception and was part of the core team from Wills Lifestyle at the bi-annual Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW).
Seem IMG Reliance wants expertise from FDCI organised India Fashion Week to set the Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) in order. Well time only will tell how the new guy fares!
Designer Ranna Gill who is showing at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2013 after a hiatus of couple of season has grabbed the Sponsored slot – the Fiama Di Wills Show. Ritu Kumar is the Wills Lifestyle Grand Finale designer. As per FDCI, both the selections have been made by Wills Lifestyle independently. Ranna had done Fiama show earlier too but it was a two-designer show with Rina Dhaka.
So do we expect something new from Ranna Gill at the forthcoming WIFW S/S 2013? I mean something different from the use of jersey that dominates her collection???
The 31st August 2012 Edition of HT CITY carried the story – “It’s Unfair” on Jury for selection of Designers for WIFW S/S 2013. Obviously you read it here first – Should Designers Comprise The Jury That Selects Designers? Here is the link: http://wp.me/p1C8a1-16e
There seems to be no end to fashion politics and no dearth of designers falling prey to people attempting at fracturing the fashion fraternity. Remember Vijay Singh – the man who had formed FDPC and had ambitious plans to disintegrate FDCI – is still at his games. Not satisfied with the lack-lustre Sahara India Bridal Week that he has been hosting for the past three years, Vijay Singh yesterday held a press conference to announce a year in advance about his Couture Week in Delhi in the year 2013.
Remember yet another Real Estate Group – AMR – that recently formed Indian Fashion Council, which later was renamed as Indian Fashion Company and boasted about forming a platform to promote Young Designers has now dumped ‘young designers‘ and joined hands with Vijay Singh to sponsor the Couture Week. I always doubted AMR’s intention and wrote about it in my various posts. Now that they are sponsoring an alternative couture week, AMR’s lie is exposed. You can read my earlier posts here:
Another “Fashion Council” Raises Its Ugly Head: http://wp.me/p1C8a1-10L
Overnight the ‘Council’ Turns In To A ‘Company’: http://wp.me/p1C8a1-118
Unabashed Pimping of Fashion Continues: http://wp.me/p1C8a1-11d
At the Press Conference held yesterday jointly by Vijay Singh and AMR, the dates were announced – 2nd August 2013 to 6th August 2013. The intent is clear to hold it before the FDCI organised Delhi Couture Week. The ace up the sleeves of the new couture week is Tarun Tahiliani and it has been announced that Tarun Tahiliani will be the Grand Finale couturier. Other designers present at the conference were Ashima-Leena, Shantanu – Nikhil and JJ Valaya (who later re-iterated that he will be part of the FDCI’s Delhi Couture Week). Rocky S and Vikram Phadnis are also supposedly part of this alternative Couture Week.
I yet again ask – do we need two Couture Weeks back to back in Delhi? Should designers who are members of FDCI ( a body constituted by them and for them) participate in an alternate couture/fashion week? Is it the lure of money that is making designers opt for an alternative organiser? What does the alternate Couture Week bring extra to the table that FDCI’s Couture Week doesn’t?
Things are not going right in Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) just before the Spring/Summer 2013 Edition of Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) scheduled from 6th October 2012 to 10th October 2012. For the first time ever there are seven designers – a mix of top, medium and small designers – that comprises the jury, which is vetting the participation of designers in the Spring/Summer 2013 WIFW. It can’t be more unfair than this – designers playing jury in selection of designers.
Nowhere in the world the designers sit as jury in the selection of fellow designers. It is unethical at the very core of it. No designer should in their right mind pass judgement on the creations of a fellow designer. Such a jury cannot avoid criticism of nepotism, bias and irregularities however transparent they may be. I got to know that few senior designers refused to be on the jury and so very rightly so. FDCI should step in and get a fresh Jury that doesn’t have designers short-listing fellow designers.
Through sources I have discovered some disastrous decisions that had been made by the Jury. Some good designers have been rejected shockingly. Some young talents had been trashed too. And last but not the least nepotism has come into play in allocation of premium single-designer-show slots. I agree that designers on the jury may not be doing so deliberately but being a designer, he/she has a fashion sensibility he/she subscribes to and may unknowingly be intolerant to a diverse fashion sensibility.
I feel that designers should take it on themselves not to be the part of the Jury so as to make the process absolutely transparent and ethical. Is it asking for too much?