 | Our 2003 and 2005 Fashion covers | Politics, it seems, is in our blood. There is hardly any organisation or activity in India, whether it is sports, culture, academia or industry, which sooner or later does not get affected by politicking. By this I mean that the purpose for which an organisation has been set up gets forgotten and people spend their time jockeying for positions of power or merely for monetary gain. Well, how could fashion be left out? As Fashion Week gets underway later this week, it has become a Delhi versus Mumbai affair and the split is wide open. When Fashion Week started six years ago, it was a signature event with the best designers showcasing their creations amid the glamour and glitter of couture. It was an undoubted success mainly because there was a single sponsor and organiser, initially, the Fashion Design Council or FDC, and then Lakme, the cosmetics giant. The sponsors were happy, the designers were happy and the guests and audience got to see the best of Indian fashion on display at one go. This year, the corporate tug-of-war between Lakme and new entrant Wills Lifestyle, ITC’s apparel company, led to a switch in sponsorship. Wills is backing fdc for the Delhi Fashion Week while Lakme,
in collaboration with event management company IMG, will stage its event in Mumbai a week before the parallel show in the capital. Fashion Week is now a 10-day event spread over the two cities featuring 110 designers, with all the accompanying drama and intrigue which has already taken centerstage. The designers, normally the stars of the show, have been left with no option but to choose between the two events. The resulting lobbying and hidden threats have added an element of corporate one-upmanship to an event that was creative, fun, focussed and the most important event in the fashion calendar. Fashion, after all, is now a Rs 300-crore industry. Our cover story looks at the backstage drama behind the split, the face-off between designers and the corporate sponsors, the fashion trends that will be on show and the competitive spirit that has added an air of intrigue to this year’s shows. “Fashion may be fickle but this split has taken it to a new level. The rivalry in the air is electric,” says Principal Correspondent Kimi Dangor who reports on the story from Mumbai. Fashion, however, has always thrived on a mixture of mayhem and madness, which is what the two events promise to unveil. The more the merrier, I guess! Index
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