Lakme India Fashion Week – A Review

India is becoming the latest fashion hub for the fashionistas. Indian designers are no longer confined to the domestic fashion and apparel market, they are gaining recognition and fame from all over the world. The various government policies and a boom in fashion industry have made it possible. One of the major breakthrough provided to Indian designers to showcase their talents are through the medium of fashion shows. Lakme India Fashion Show is the most popular fashion show celebration of India where the talents of already established and upcoming designers are showcased.

This event is a fashion celebration laced with lots of glamour and national as well as international media coverage. This time lakme India fashion week was held at Mumbai from 31st Oct- 4th Nov. Many high profile designers as well as audience witnessed this fashion fiesta. Famous bollywood celebrities were part of it.

Eminent designers like Surily Goel, Narendra Kumar, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Nalandda Bhandari, Nandita Mahtani, Anand Kabra, Abhishek Dutta , Wendrell Rodericks, Anupama Dayal, Vikram Phadnis, Chaitanya Rao, Sanchita, Savio Jon, Payal Singhal, Sanjay Malhotra, James Ferriera, Priyadarshini Rao, etc presented their spring/summer 2007 collection. Also South African designer duo Sun Goddess and Clive Rundle presented their collection.

Brief descriptions of some designers creative work are as follows :-

Nalandda Bhandari

Nalandda Bhandari designs simple yet attractive and wearable collection under the brand name Nasha. She named her spring/summer 2007 collection Free Spirit. She covered all patterns and styles of contemporary women clothing, dress patterns like- tunics, kaftans, tube dress, skirts, shirts and burnt gold evening gown dominated her show. She played with glamour clad fabrics like chiffon, silk, georgette, voile, cotton and crepe. Her collection was largely ruled by animal prints and embroideries like African embroidery, sequin embroidery, etc. She also presented her men collection. She included her logo of rose embroidery in almost every outfit.

Narendra Kumar

The very famous designer Narendra Kumar presented his spring/summer collection 2007 at Lakme Fashion Week. The collection was named as Love Touches You. He presented a perfect blend of traditional and contemporary designing paired beautifully with each other. The womens line of western collection had smocked & pleated skirts, balloon skirt with shirt dress, half collars, bloomers, chiffon with appliqu sleeves, etc which were created with the designers unique touch and detailing. The preferred fabrics by the designer were cotton, georgette, net, silk, mull and linen. The collection was unique but wearable in terms of design and pattern.

The men collection was very stylish and appealing in nature. Men models walked the ramp with elaborate embroidered batik styled shirts paired with stylish trousers completed with patch pockets and shiny zippers. Fun element of, feminity to male garments was provided by showcasing sophisticated floral printed baggy tops paired with tight fitting pants and capris. The choice of colors was dull jade, beige, blue, brown, saffron and white. Complicated embroidery, smocking, appliqu work and shadow work were part and parcel of his creative designing. The fun element was when the famous model turned actor John Abraham walked the ramp with white linen suit. Thus he complied every bit of creativity and entertainment aspects to his collection which gained him standing ovation by the audience and showering of red carnations.

Hong Kong Fashion Week

Welcoming 1153 exhibitors from 21 countries and regions and group pavilions from the Chinese mainland, India, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia and Taiwan, Fang said, "There are designer brands from Hong Kong, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands. Together they make Hong Kong Fashion Week a global sourcing hub in Asia for international buyers." He said that while the sluggish US economy has inevitably affected the industry, Hong Kong garment companies are experienced, resilient and blessed with flexibility of response to changing market conditions. He also underscored the encouraging growth in exports to emerging markets such as Argentina, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia and Turkey.
The presence of such a large number of exhibitors from so many countries only corroborated the statement that Hong Kong Fashion Week is indeed region's most vital sourcing opportunity. In fact, the future of fashion is illuminated by the exhibitors' collections, fashion shows, presentations by renowned trend forecasters like Carlin International, Peclers Paris and WGSN and a Trend Display. Other highlights of the event included seminars by Australian Wool Innovation Ltd., the Hong Kong Apparel Society and Italian Trade Commission, giving important industry insights.

In keeping up with the demand of the business visitors, the fair authorities have added a new zone, Fabrics & Yarns Zone, which showcased the fabrics including cotton, yarns, embroidery, linen, wool etc. offering a wealth of fabric choices. The other zones, introduced by the fair authorities earlier, however, continued to find place in the fair.
It may be recalled that the concept of Zones was introduced in 2007, which made the visit more organized for the business visitors, who could locate whatever was their requirement from the concerned zones. For example, Emporium de Mode featured some very striking collections from design houses which projected originality and creativity and brought buyers of quality garments of outstanding design; Spice Area offers the complete fashion picture for Spring/Summer, including the trendiest accessories, handbags, shoes and other must haves for the season; the Infant and Children's Wear zone brought out the newest looks for the junior set, from babies through toddlers to older children and catered to a booming market sector.

Hong Kong Fashion Week Defies Global Recession, Swine Flu

Keeping in view the emerging needs of the exhibitors and business visitors, the fair added new zones to the existing ones. The new zones set up by the organisers were Brand Name Gallery, which was a prestigious zone exhibiting brand-name garments. Then there was Intimate wear zone, where the exhibitors found the latest trends in lingerie and night-wear. Other specilaised sectors included World of Fashion Accessories, Infant & Childrens wear, Bridal and Evening wear, Fabrics & Yarn, Sewing Supplies, Fashion Gallery as well as International Fashion Designers Showcase, each of which was brimming with the latest styles from talented designers from Hong Kong, China as well from Indonesia and Korea.




The 1,164 exhibitors (up slightly from 1,154 last year), who came primarily from China and Hong Kong, were seeing fewer buyers. Those who did shop at the show were placing smaller orders and requesting faster delivery times. Interaction with the visitors revealed that there was less business this year as compared to earlier editions of the Week. One of the visitors, who has been regular frequenter of this event, did say that he is buying lesser this time. "You have to work harder for the same money," he said with a weary shrug




"It is very, very quiet," said Michelle Keeling, Managing Director for RTHK Clothing Exporters Ltd. in Hong Kong, which manufactures mens, womens and childrens clothing. She said Hong Kong and China have been affected by what everyone is calling a "financial tsunami." Its the delayed wave of financial disaster washing over export-based economies now affected by the downturn in importing regions such as the United States and Europe.




That was evident in the trade statistics coming out of Hong Kong. According to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, clothing and clothing-accessories exports from Hong Kong to the United States slid 14.4 percent to $2.8 billion during the first five months of this year compared with the same period last year. Exports to Europe were down around 13 percent. "This past year has not been easy," said Vincent Fang, Chairman of the Garment Advisory Committee to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. He is also Chief Executive of Toppy International Ltd., a Hong Kong company that owns one apparel factory in China with nearly 5,000 workers that supplies two retail chains, operating under the Episode and Jessica nameplates. Fang, who also makes shirts for Polo Ralph Lauren in the US market through contractors in Central America, said the fragile economy in the West is forcing him to expand his business in China. "The whole world is looking to China as a savior," he observed.




China may be putting the brakes on its rapid expansion, but it still has a relatively healthy economy. The World Bank projects that Chinas gross domestic product will grow a robust 7.2 percent this year. In comparison, the US gross domestic product is expected to contract between 5 percent and 6 percent.




If a stubbornly tough recession was keeping some buyers away, the threat of the swine flu acted as another deterrent. While Hong Kong has had no deaths related to the virus, travelers and businesspeople seem to be particularly cautious about trekking to the region. They remember the SARS epidemic that claimed 299 people in Hong Kong and 349 in China between November 2002 and July 2003. Last years show was much better, said Mandy Chan, a merchandiser for the Zhejiang Seven Fortune Group, which manufactures sweaters in China for apparel companies such as Chicos, Guess? Inc. and Zara. Maybe its the economy; maybe it is H1N1 [swine flu], she said.