Behind the scenes at Wills India Fashion Week, courtesy of PR Pundit

This week on The Business of Fashion we welcome several guest contributors to give us the scoop on recent fashion weeks, the IHT conference and local market trends in India. We’re calling it our own India Fashion Week, but as you’ll see, that might be the last thing India needs.

NEW DELHI, India — Bollywood, Cricket and Fashion. Everyday these three topics bring to life the popular culture pages of India’s leading national newspapers, The Times of India and Hindustan Times. And of this colourful ménage à trois, fashion is the relative newcomer, but is growing fast.

In the last year alone, the local scene has exploded to include three major prêt-a-porter fashion weeks, a bridal couture week, a regional fashion week in Kolkata, a proposed men’s fashion week and enough corporate sponsors to power each one. Multi-brand fashion boutiques and über-luxe malls featuring international brands have also recently opened. Local fashion media has reached critical mass, with Harper’s Bazaar, which launched an Indian edition last month, Vogue India, and countless other magazines all aimed at India’s it-bag aspiring middle classes.

But, let’s start at the very beginning, to see how it all began.

India’s first ever fashion week took place in New Delhi in the Autumn of 2000, organised by the newly created Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), the international talent agency IMG, and title sponsor Lakmé, a leading Indian cosmetics and beauty brand. This edition ran until the big split in 2006. Since then, Lakmé Fashion Week (LFW) by IMG is held in Mumbai, home of Bollywood and “filmy” glamour, while the FDCI continued as Wills India Fashion Week (WIFW) in New Delhi. Add to this Delhi Fashion Week (DFW), only two seasons old, created by the FDCI’s defecting former executive director.

Which brings us to the Autumn/Winter 2009 shows last month, where over 180 fashion and accessory designers in 80+ runway shows, unveiled their collections across three events in two cities, between March 18 and 31, with a record number of corporate sponsors including Hewlett Packard, Audi, Grey Goose, Carlsberg, Yahoo, Reliance, Kingfisher airlines and Fedex.

As FDCI president Sunil Sethi told The Business of Fashion: “Even in these times of recession there is a definite buzz around brand India and a special place on the rack for us. It is all about continuity.  If a customer has come to us once, whether they add another designer or replace one with the other, they nevertheless carry brand India forward. Let us get the international fashion community here first. Let them see our creativity, our warmth and the hunger we have to be part of the world of fashion.”

But that is easier said than done, and there is a long way to go before this is achieved.

If only these fashion weeks did not shift venue every year, resulting in constant logistical reprogramming between glitzy five-star hotels, a spanking new luxury mall, a drab industry trade venue, and a crumbling performance arts hall, creating an image problem, which never helps in fashion

What’s more, designers are split and often conflicted, especially the younger ones, as to which week they should participate in. On one occasion designers even fought publicly, one accusing the other of delaying his show on purpose.

For media and buyers, the three fashion weeks are no treat either. Media outlets are forced to deploy larger teams to simultaneously cover all events comprehensively. The all-important front row of international buyers, such as Julie Gilhart, fashion director of Barneys New York who attended WIFW last month, must choose between fashion weeks or face the impossible drive across Delhi between venues, in the deadlock of peak traffic hours.

What the Indian fashion community needs to do instead is create a single organisation to interface between designers and related government bodies, retailers, manufacturers and financial institutions. We should aim to make a global imprint with our craft and textile heritage, creativity and colour at global standards of competitiveness; marketing India as a design hub. Indeed, the craft and colour of India has caught the imagination of the world, not just-a-bit helped by the phenomenal success of Slumdog Millionaire.

To outside commentators this is more than apparent. A few days ago bigwig fashion journalist Suzy Menkes wrote in a New York Times article, “As the vast country’s designers take Indian style beyond the draped sari and its woven fabrics to Western cut and sew, a local industry is now doing more than making low-cost clothes for export overseas. [Yet] in spite of a vibrant market across the subcontinent, the rallying cry of those 150-plus designers is this: “Can we make it internationally?”

Manish Arora has made it, with critical acclaim, if not commercial success. Pieces by Rajesh Pratap Singh have been stocked at Colette in Paris. Other designers including Anamika Khanna, Sabyasachi, Ashish N. Soni and Namrata Joshipura, are also making their mark internationally. A couple of other promising up-and-comers including Gaurav Gupta and Varun Sardana are waiting in the wings but need seed investment to take off.

As for the crowded show calendar and multiple fashion weeks, some industry participants think it might be too early to tell whether three really is crowd.  “I think we should reserve judgment for the time being,” says  Nonita Kalra, Editor-in-Chief of ELLE India. “I don’t think the calendar is crowded. Just compare the numbers to the burgeoning middle class. India is a big country with big tastes. What seems like an explosion to the rest of the world is just a small party for us.”

Either way, while the dust has settled a bit this year, the chaos of fashion week in India is not a pretty sight.  That said, the threat of recession has turned quite a lot of people rather more serious in bringing Indian fashion from fraternity to industry, not gang war. And that can only do us some good.

Sita Wadhwani is a writer, fashion stylist and trend scout based between New Delhi and Mumbai.

Fashion needs to change (Emirates Business 24-7)
One of BoF’s favourite Indian designers, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, lays out his approach for the future of the fashion business.

A Modern Take on Iceland’s Traditional Hand-Knit Look (WSJ)
The Icelandic sweater is a source of inspiration for many contemporary designers in Reykjavik’s thriving fashion scene.

Block Party (WWD)
This fall, Karl Lagerfeld is set to launch Kapsule, a unisex collection of three scents that can be mixed and matched.

What Happens in Vegas: $9 Billion Mega Project Ups the Ante on Luxury (WWD)
In Vegas, the $9 Billion City Center project, slated to open next year has signed a strong roster of luxury brands including Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co.

Soaring online sales defy credit crunch (Drapers)
In the UK, online shoppers spent £26.5 billion in the first six months this year.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee designs, photo courtesy of Sabyasachi Couture.

While China may have the unyielding focus of many Western luxury brands today, many players are already beginning to set their sights on India for the next wave of expansion. But, as global luxury players begin to tentatively test these Indian waters, they are finding that India, which has its own vibrant indigenous cultural scene, may require a different expansion strategy altogether.

With Bollywood stars and local Cricket legends that get more attention in India than their Western cultural equivalents, there is no blank canvas in India upon which to paint Western tastes. Locals on the streets of Shanghai and Beijing have, by and large, adopted Western dress, but those in Delhi and Mumbai  are more likely to fuse East and West; a Tarun Tahiliani kameez paired with Seven for all Mankind jeans, Jimmy Choos and a Gucci bag or a Sabyasachi sari paired with Harry Winston jewels and Bottega Veneta minaudiere.

For international luxury brands, therefore, conquering the Indian market will require a lot more than a cut and paste — and, there is some formidable local talent to contend with.

On this note, Vogue India’s Bandana Tewari called my attention to an insightful article written by Adam Levin, of The Times of South Africa, who delves into India’s nascent luxury brands, which are using their local knowledge and savoir-faire to stake their own claims in the Indian luxury market land grab. What’s more, some of the best indigenous brands may even have the potential for taking their world-class craftsmanship to a global audience, something that Western brands have done furtively for years.

I caught up with Bandana, who is in London this week, to learn more.  “India’s design signature has more to do with the quality of fabric and intricacy of workmanship rather than the silhouette,” she told me. “I don’t expect the Indian sari to be a sell out in Paris for instance. However, imagining say, a resort collection using the intrinsic fluidity of the sari with tempered down Indian embellishments is absolutely plausible.”

To wit, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Rajesh Pratap Singh and Manish Arora have already developed international profiles based on this kind of approach. Next-generation Indian designers like Namrata Joshipura and Anuj Sharma have managed to catch the attention of international buyers and press at the two competing Indian fashion weeks held recently.

But, as Bandana notes, “Indian designers selling abroad still have a lot to learn, especially from the likes of Dries Van Noten, Etro and Kenzo-designers who continue to reinterpret ethnic influences by making them culturally exciting not ethno-centric.” Until then, Indian brands will continue to fight the good fight in their homeland, while the international brands may use their own advantage to bring Indian craftsmanship to the world.

Sabyasachi A/W 2008 images courtesy of Getty Images, International Herald Tribune and Michael Rubenstein (www.mrubenstein.com)

Sabyasachi showed his S/S 2008 collection in New York last night to a crowd mixed with New York City-based Indian socialites, important fashion journalists like Laird Borrelli-Persson of Style.com and Meredith Melling-Burke of Vogue, and other curious onlookers eager to see what the "Hermes of India" would come up with this season.

As Laird told me before the show after she had taken a quick pre-show sneak peek backstage, it was "classic Sabya".

He sent out rich Indian fabrics in a deep "revolutionary" colour palette of burnt orange, forest green and indian khaki, cut in classic (sometimes very voluminous) Western silhouettes. Revolutionary symbols from Russia, Cuba and elsewhere accented the clothes, which strummed along to Tracy Chapman and perhaps a deeper message of Sabyasachi’s plans of bringing a little bit of India to the global fashion.

(more photos below)

All photos are property of the Business of Fashion.

However, anyone who has done business in India will know that navigating the the notoriously challenging Indian business world is not easy. In Indian fashion, it is even more challenging. Darwinian forces and age old Indian cultural patterns  collide with the already flaky and frenetic fashion world. This is, after all, the country where Majed Al Sabah’s putative Indian business partner in an initiative to develop an Indian outpost of Villa Moda left him at the proverbial alter and then went off to set up his own competing business under another name, using the Villa Moda concept. Clearly, understanding the nuances of how things really work in India and how to gain the trust of and commitment from Indian business people is critical to success.

This is partially why I think there should be much more discussion on which of the local Indian designers (and there are literally 100’s of them who show in Delhi and Mumbai each season) will conquer the Indian market. These are people who have lived and breathed India from the get go, and have the know-how and connections to make things work in their home country. Sure, most of the big European luxury players partner with illustrious local business families with fashion cred, but it seems to me that having an operation that understands the Indian market and designs specifically for it can be a very powerful way in which local Indian designers can compete with the big guys.

The truth is, the tradition of cultural dress in India is not relegated to formal events or occasions as it is in some other Asian countries.  In fact,  Indian men and women, even at the most elite socio-economic levels,  integrate traditional dress into their everyday lives. This is, on the one hand, a reflection of climate. On the other  hand, it is a reflection of a distinct pride in Indian culture. For designers who share in this pride, understand the culture, and can design for it, they can have a leg up on any foreigners who come to play on the feisty Indian fashion playground.

Tonight, one of my favourite Indian designers, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, invited me to an event in London showcasing the work of some of the most talented Indian designers. Held by the Gallery Sumukha at London’s Bombay Brasserie, the event brought together 30 artists from India who collaborated to produce thematically linked pieces of fashion, art and design.

Though the Bombay Brasserie space did not lend itself well to this kind of exhibition, it was very impressive to see the work of so many talented young artists from India all in one place. At a fashion show in New York a few season ago, a Japanese buyer from Isetan asked me if I was the "Hermes of India". When I looked at him with a blank face, not knowing what he meant, he went on to describe an Indian ingenue of great talent and noteriety. I soon figured out he was talking about Sabyasachi — so you can understand the level of talent that was assembled for the event. Manish Arora, Rohit Bal, and Rajesh Pratap Singh were some of the other Indian fashion luminaries who were working the crowd.  Right now, it seems many of them have their hearts set on conquering the Europe and America. It’s my hope that one of these guys also finds the inner passion to also make it in their home market, building the world’s first luxury brand in India, for India.
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Sabyasachi developed this look based on the painting to the left by Paresh Maity. It is reminiscent of the  nerd girl chic collection he showed to great reviews in New York last September.

Manish Arora’s contribution was a signature Manish skirt and jacket based on the stunning work of Ravinder Reddy.

We fell in love with these  old-school valises in modern colours by Suman Sharma, inspired by Bose Krishnamachari in collaboration with Rohit Bal.

© 2007 Copyright Imran Amed – The Business of Fashion