 | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | FALLING APART: Model at the Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week last year | | | The FDCI’s cash registers are all set to ring with a Rs 50,000 hike in fee for a solo show. | | The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) could well be re-named Fashion Disaster Council of India if its penchant for running into trouble is anything to go by. First came the news of its divorce from title sponsor Lakme and event organiser IMG. Now one year, two seasons and a few associate sponsors later, FDCI has parted ways with event management company Percept D’Mark (PDM). From haute couture to hot water, rumblings of trouble in Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week’s (WIFW) prêt paradise started last season when cracks were reported in the FDCI-PDM combine. But FDCI Director-General Rathi Vinay Jha, PDM CEO Preeta Singh and the rest of the cheerleading brigade put up a brave front and denied the rumours. Singh had valiantly declared then, “We have a three-year contract with FDCI and we want to fulfil it.” But nearly 18 months into the agreement, the marriage has ended and Singh is no longer with PDM. After moving bag, baggage and designer bounty to The Ashok Hotel last season, the WIFW is in for another change in address, with the latest roosting place being Pragati Maidan in Delhi, allegedly garnered at heavily discounted prices. Apart from the venue veering, FDCI’s cash register is all set to ring with an announced hike in show fees. Participation fee has been increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh for a solo show (with one exhibition stall as part of the deal). An extra stall will cost another Rs 25,000. | | INTERVIEW | RATHI VINAY JHA | | “Fashion industry is media candy”  FDCI’s director-general combats allegations and clears the air:
Q. FDCI seems to be running into roadblocks again. A. This happens everywhere. Since the fashion industry is media candy, these issues become news. Q. Why did FDCI and PDM split? A. There was a lack of adequate sponsorship last season. So we decided to internalise the management of the event. Q. Why has the event been moved to Pragati Maidan? A. We need nearly one lakh sq ft space for the event. This is a trade event, not just a fashion show. Hence, the move to Pragati Maidan. Q. Have your political connections helped you snag the venue at a discounted rate? A. The India Trade Promotion Organisation is in the business of making money. When I was its CMD eight years ago, we didn’t give concessions even to charitable groups. Why should they do us a favour? Q. Is this a move to streamline the event and keep numbers down? A. One way of tackling supply is to make it dear. We want to control the number of extra stalls. If designers want extra stalls they have to be prepared to pay.
| | Is the FDCI milking designers for all it can, as the competition is surreptitiously suggesting? No, says Jha. “We are working within the constraints imposed by the lack of infrastructure. Designers have to pay more for the facilities and exposure we are providing. It’s high time that the fee was increased. Internationally, at fashion weeks, designers have to bear 100 per cent cost. Even after the hike, our designers haven’t touched 25 per cent of our total expenses,” she insists. While there have been mixed reactions from the designer melee regarding the smelly corridors and dank rooms at The Ashok Hotel giving way to the convention halls of Pragati Maidan, Jha insists the new venue will cost FDCI more than the alleged discounted deal they are supposed to have received. “The India Trade Promotion Organisation is in the business of making money. Even when I was CMD of the ITPO around eight years ago, we didn’t give concessions even to charitable organisations. Why should they do us a favour?” she counters. | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | BACK AGAIN: It’ll be a new venue in September | | | Convention halls such as Pragati Maidan are the best options for fashion events growing in size. | | Pragati Maidan, famously the venue for the annual India International Trade Fair, which also hosts a plethora of auto expos, plastic exhibitions and engineering conclaves, will now play host to Indian fashion’s premier event. Young designers like Varun Bahl are quick to defend the decision. “It’s the best option for an event that’s growing in size. Internationally too, fashion weeks aren’t necessarily held in five-star hotels but in convention halls such as these. And a venue that is known for trade should draw more medium level buyers,” believes Bahl. And even as Jha says FDCI has moved on from the break-up and decided to internalise the management of the event henceforth, PDM still seems to be in a denial mode. Says Devraj Sanyal, COO, PDM, “It’s unfair to say that we’ve fallen out with the FDCI. Despite what they might say, we are still in conversation with them to sort out problems and iron out differences. We are involved with the FDCI at many levels and have taken the event several notches higher and are looking to find a platform where we can work together.” As for Singh’s exit from PDM, Sanyal insists it has nothing to do with the fashion week fiasco. “She came from advertising and has gone back to things she enjoys. Her coming or leaving has nothing to do with fashion week,” he insists. And even as PDM declares a final announcement will be due in a fortnight, FDCI’s fashionable set are set to lay siege at Pragati Maidan between September 5 and 9. Title sponsor Wills Lifestyle evades any uncomfortable questions and prefers to maintain a diplomatic stance. Says Atul Chand, vice-president (marketing), ITC LRBD, “Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week is the country’s biggest fashion event. It has moved from strength to strength in the last three editions. As the title partner, we are fully committed to the business of fashion and are confident that the coming spring-summer edition of the event is going to be even bigger and better than ever before.” Meanwhile, as the Wills Lifestyle tagline cheerily announces, ‘Enjoy the Change’. Index |
