Monday, Mar 26, 2007
India Designers Look to Historical Fashion to Lure Foreign Buyers
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 A model for Rina Dhaka
© AFP Manan VatsyayanaDesigners took inspiration from the 1940's and the Mughal era, known for their heavily embellished clothing, for their designs to lure foreign buyers at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week.
Designer Ritu Kumar borrowed inspiration from forests in her collection 'Urban Roots' which presented an eclectic mix of denims with foliage and tiger printed patchwork made from khadi, a traditional handspun fabric.
"There's a lot of creativity here. Some are rather ethnical, others are more modern more western, and some combine the two. But these are very creative collections," said Barbara Pasquini, a fashion critic with Italian magazine 'Collezioni'.
"Some of the designers certainly would receive more attention from the international market because their collections are absolutely apt to be worn all over the world," Pasquini added.
Designers worked around a theme and brought together elements of traditional India in an effort to woo international buyers.
"Outside India, all the international designers and people are actually looking for coming to us and seeing what Indians are doing, our collections, colors and embroideries," said debutante fashion designer Renu Tandon.
Veteran designers like Rina Dhaka showcased classic vintage outfits with long tunics, puffed sleeves and knee-length skirts reminiscent of the 1940's in her collection 'Me, Myself and Rina'.
Meanwhile two other well-known designers Raghuvendra Rathore and JJ Valaya evoked India's regal spirit to reach out to the buyers.
Rathore's jackets, skirts and dresses were heavily embroidered and Valaya's lavish neutral palette of outfits was embellished with colorful stones -- elements borrowed from the Mughal kings.
"I like it because it's something different from Europe. It has that influence of India but on the other hand its western clothes. The fabrics the cuts and all that is something different, which I think is a bit of a competition to Europe," said Suzanne, a buyer from Switzerland.
However, designers hoped the number of buyers would definitely increase by the next exposition, to reach out to a larger audience in the West.
"Well business is picking up. We do definitely need a lot more buyers because this is India's premier fashion event and 150 buyers are not enough. There should be at least 500-600 buyers from all over the world coming here because that's how we're going to grow," said fashion designer Bobby Grover, whose collection was showcased on the last day of the fashion week.
Over 80 international buyers from 19 countries and 100 domestic buyers took part at the fashion week.
The last day of the fashion week was allocated exclusively for buyers and designers to interact with each other and promote business.
The Indian fashion design industry is worth 1.8 billion dollars, growing at 20-30 percent in the 35 billion dollars global fashion market. (ANI)
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