Anjana Sharma joined IMG Reliance as Director Fashion in January 2011 and was at the helm of affairs of Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) that is co-organised by IMG Reliance and Lakme. But Anjana’s stint was cut-short after been with IMG Reliance only for 19 Months.
IMG Reliance has asked Anjana Sharma to put in her papers and the person replacing her is from Delhi and is from the fashion industry. The disastrous Winter/Festive 2012 Edition of Lakme Fashion Week was probably the nail in the coffin for Anjana Sharma. Lacklustre list of participating designers, total vaccum of business at the fashion week and virtual boycott of LFW by the luminous Board ere signs loud enough hinting at the deteriorating levels of Lakme Fashion Week. The stormy session post the LFW where the Board was volatile and upset at way things were going on at Lakme Fashion Week was widely reported in the Press.
Delhi is undoubtedly the Fashion Capital of India and hope the Delhi person replacing Anjana Sharma as Director Fashion at IMG Reliance will resurrect the Lakme Fashion Week. Meanwhile don’t know if Anjana Sharma will try her luck with AMR Group’s dubious Indian Fashion Company (IFC), which tom-tommed about floating a Young Designers’ Forum (YDF) that Sharma strongly advocated for.
A bagful of lies – is that what the controversial Indian Fashion Company (IFC) all about? Just a day back AMR Group blamed their PR Agency for misspelling ‘Council’ as ‘Company’, which nobody bought and now AMR Group’s President – Kashif Usmani who openly stated to Delhi Times/ Times of India in their 30th June edition, “We have postponed the Sunday Event. It will happen a week later…” goes back on that too.
Saturday (30th June) afternoon the PR Agency of AMR Group sends out press release to various media inviting them for the Indian Fashion Company’s launch event at BlueFrog tonight, i.e 1st July, 2012. The President of AMR’s statement was an absolute lie and that too made to a National News Daily. How unprofessional and unethical can one be???
Well that’s not all. The press invite further goes on to mention names of top designers who had in no unambiguous terms denied participating in their event. Rina Dhaka was utterly shocked to hear that her name is used in the Invitation when she mailed AMR her regret and also gave her statement to Delhi Times stating, “I have declined to be part of the IFC now.” Raghavendra Rathore too has expressed his inability to be part of IFC or any of their events and his name too is printed boldly on the invitation. I also spoke with Narendra Kumar in Mumbai and he said that he is totally confused with the developments and have doubts about the real agenda of this body. Most of the names flashed on the invitation are not attending the IFC event. Isn’t this pimping of fashion???
The real objective of AMR in holding this party tonight has in fact got nothing to do with fashion. The party is to celebrate AMR Group’s MD, Kapil Aggarwal’s wife’s birthday. The wannabe Page3 couple thought it to be a smart move to pimp a ride on fashion to get some glamour and class in their party. It is high-time our designers see the underlying motives and not taken on a ride by any Tom, Dick and Harry.
When Vogue, the most prestigious fashion glossy in the world initiated ‘Vogue Fashion Fund’ they did so with Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). The Indian edition of Vogue Fashion Fund too is working in tandem with FDCI. Sir Philip Green of Topshop too constituted Fashion Awards for British designers but in alliance with the British Fashion Council. The mighty Vogue and Topshop feel the need to associate with their respective officially recognised fashion council for philanthropic projects because that is the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). But it is only in India that many Tom, Dick and Harry suddenly becomes a do-gooder for the fashion industry and floats a Council and our desi designers blindly join in only to realise it’s all a farce.
By the way – Many Happy Returns of the Day to Pamal Aggarwal (Wife of Kapil Aggarwal)!
In my previous post I wrote about a Real Estate Company – AMR Group creating a new Fashion Council – India Fashion Council (IFC) in alliance with few media personalities, a former FDCI Executive and some designers. You can read the previous post here:
On the 26th of June the Board of Fashion Designers Council of India (FDCI) had a meeting and took stock of the so-called new Council’s formation and unanimously decided to disassociate with any such organisation that is planning to form an alternative fashion council. The designers who were approached by IFC did agree to participate in it under the wrong projection made by AMR that a National Daily is backing the new venture, have now washed-off their hands from it. Once it was clear that IFC formed by AMR is not a Non-Profit Organisation and is in no way associated with the claimed National Newspaper, most participant designers withdrew.
Resultant the much-touted Press Conference and post party announcing the launch of India Fashion Council at BlueFrog on the 1st of July stands cancelled now.
The most ridiculous excuse AMR MD, Kapil Aggarwal came out with was that IFC is India Fashion Company and was erroneously mentioned as India Fashion Council by their PR Agency. Well it is nothing but a white-lie because I have in my posession numerous communications sent out to designers and other people from the fashion industry where IFC was clearly mentioned as India Fashion Council. Kapil Aggarwal in his letter to FDCI President, Sunil Sethi writes – “This is to state that the word ” council” was never the format of IFC , and its a complete mistake of our PR ageny involved in the promotion of Indian Fashion Company.”
Finally an ambitious businessman whose sole – objective is to get his photographs on Page3, which he has ensured by buying Medianet space in Times of India has been exposed and his fashion council stands nipped at the bud.