Published: Tuesday, May 09, 2006
A Tale of Two Fashion Weeks
By Betsy Lowther
NEW DELHI — To read most of the Indian press leading up to the country's first back-to-back fashion weeks last month, the focus was definitely on the ensuing drama over emerging design.

The split in the country's fashion community, which since 2000 had held one annual fashion week for a wide range of Indian designers, was lamented as "a fashion soap opera" and a "war on the ramp" in local headlines. India's fashion followers — in a country where designers have celebrity status, quite a large group — have been closely watching to see which event would trip up.

But in the end, both fashion weeks were able to pull off successful showings that were big on the glitz and pomp that is beginning — for better or worse — to define modern Indian fashion. Each also spotlighted a small but strong number of emerging labels that showed real worldwide commercial viability and generated significant interest from international buyers.
"If there's a positive side to having two fashion weeks, it's that each worked harder to bring in buyers and make the events more professional."
Varun Bahl, designer
"There is a lot of potential here," said Albert Morris, a consultant for Browns in London, who attended the fashion week in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. "Most designers are not quite ready yet [for international markets], but there are many that I want to watch."

However, the split to two fashion weeks could definitely unravel some of the recognition that Indian designers have started to earn. The drama began in September, when the Fashion Design Council of India said it had decided not to renew its contract with IMG, the company behind New York's Olympus Fashion Week that helped found India's fashion week in 2000 and had run it ever since.

The FDCI surprised many when it instead signed local events management company PDM to run the shows. (In January, the production company behind London Fashion Week, S2, was hired as a consultant for the event.) Subsequent talks between founding title sponsor Lakmé, India's largest local beauty brand, and the FDCI broke down, which eventually led to the announcement in November that shook India's fashion community: Lakmé and IMG were teaming up to launch a second fashion week for Indian designers in Mumbai from March 28 to April 1, a week before the FDCI's New Delhi shows.