Is There Room for Indian Fashion Outside India?
Get ready to see a lot of embroidery, brocades and draped fabrics as one of India’s biggest fashion events, the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, kicks off in New Delhi Wednesday afternoon. Around 80 runway shows will take place during the five-day event, which will see Indian designers presenting their Autumn/Winter 2011 collections. Big names include Manish Malhotra, famous for his Bollywood gowns, Rina Dhaka, whose modern silhouettes made it global, and the Delhi-based designer Rohit Bal.
The tone, as in previous seasons, is set to be distinctly Indian–drawing on the country’s aesthetic traditions. The appeal too is likely to be largely domestic. Global luxury companies have cited the long-standing appeal of Indian luxury goods as one of the reasons that has prevented them from making headways in the Indian market.
But what about the other way around? One of the stated aims of the Wills fashion week, which organizers describe as a “business of fashion event,” is to draw buyers–domestic as well as international ones. Is there room for Indian fashion in markets outside India? While big fashion houses–such as Italy’s Valentino, Armani and Versace–have been sourcing textiles and embroidered fabrics from India for years, ready-to-wear Indian garments don’t make it on catwalks in Milan as often.
Pashma – Spring Summer 2011 Wills India Fashion Week
Indian Fashions are beautiful! Just look at the Bollywood costumes and the gorgeous clothes that Indian Actresses like Aishwarya Rai wear!