Lakme Fashion Week was anyway going downhill for quiet sometime now as it had become nothing but a Bollywood Tamasha. But now that Old Guards have given way to the new team, the exodus of designers loyal to Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) to Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) was expected. After the face of LFW – Anil Chopra quit Lakme, the IMG Reliance team hasn’t been able to muster up a good line-up of designers. If you go through the list of participating designers in LFW, I am sure you will see a whole bunch of new names. Oh yes, participation of New York based designer of Indian origin – Bibhu Mohapatra is probably the highlight of the Lakme Fashion Week Summer Resort 2012.
The WIFW Fall-Winter 2012 schedule disappointed me when I saw many quality Pret Wear designers absent. The absence of Rajesh Pratap Singh, Ashish Soni, Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna, Namrata Joshipura, Varun Bahl, Ranna Gill, Nandita Basu, Varun Sardana and Prashant Verma is going to rob the charm of WIFW quiet a bit. I don’t know if the addition of LFW loyalists like Nachiket Barve, Kallol Dutta, Dev r Nil and Abdul Haldar in WIFW schedule will compensate that loss. The 12-Designer Show to support the cause against Women Trafficking at WIFW holds promise though.
When you ask the designers who are skipping the Fall-Winter 2012 edition of WIFW they give you politically correct answers but that’s definitely not the fact. Off-the-Record comments fly off like – “The line-up looks like Bridal Fashion Week”, or some hint at groupism. When will Indian Fashion get over trivial politics???
Actually the Lakme Fashion Week is reviving. Look at all the new talent launching there including Pia Pauro. Their India day is strong with Deepika Givind and Abraham Thakore etc. The finale is Gudda and you have Bhibhu Mohapatro. The platform is relevant and draws in the serious fashion media. I think it is of a size that is a manageable and is very, very effective for new talent in terms of attention. Am not sure of business transacted though. Have dealt with the new management and they are professional and great.
Some ‘behind the scenes’ guys who were earlier associated with other Fashion Weeks too, told me that when it comes to receiving payments, nobody is as good as LFW. The organisation/ systems in other Fashion Weeks, I was told was an absolute mess, which is why the 20 other Fashion Weeks, didn’t survive beyond 2 years. This will be LFW’s 12th year– of course they they’ve had their ups and downs, and in future, they’ll feature umpteen challenges– be that as it may be- must acknowledge that Lakme & IMG and their head honchos together built a strong and solid brand.
at lakme fashion week. the organization is smooth and the event is well run. Pia Pauro and Komal Sood ( our clients) had great shows. All good.