A Stitch In Time

Looking Up with
                              __________ SUJATA ASSOMULL

Therer are the Screen-Videocon awards for those in the movie business; there are the Harmony awards for artistes, but what about the fashion fraternity? Well, until this year there has been no formal accolades for this industry. Which is odd considering the amount of time they spend basking in the media spotlight. But things started looking up when a couple of weeks back the first fashion awards were held in Bangalore, and timely too, with India’s first fashion week approaching in August. The man behind the awards was Vijay Malaya, whose equine interest extends to clothes’ horses as well. His Derby nights both in Mumbai and Bangalore are always centred around fashion. And Dr Malaya finally proved how serious he is about promoting the fashion industry by holding the Kingfisher Fashion Awards, the night before the Bangalore Derby.

Now Bangalore is an odd place to have a fashion related ceremony as traditionally Mumbai and Delhi have always been considered India’s fashion capitals. But Bangalore has its own thriving fashion industry. In fact one of India’s best lifestyle store’s, ‘Cinnamon’ is in Bangalore. Each piece in the shop is carefully placed, and their entire staff is friendly and attentive. And Cinnamon is the only store in India that stocks Abraham and Thakore’s saris, which are worth checking out. Besides that Bangalore has its own sense of style, the women are all impeccably dressed in their bright saris with accessories to match. As for their male escorts, they too seem to make a special effort. Most of them attending the Bangalore Derby night came dressed in their best suits, in contrast with the laid-back Mumbai scene.

So Bangalore actually turned out to be the perfect host for the fashion awards. The Best Fashion Designer went to Hemant Trevedi who also made his first public appearance since his accident three months ago that night. Before winning the award there was a small showing of Hemant designs and his collections were really quite wearable. You do not have to be a perfect size eight to wear a Trevedi original. He combines the best of east and west, by using traditional Indian embroidery on western silhouettes. But Hemant was not the only designer to walk away with an award that night. Ritu Kumar was given a Lifetime Achievement award. And Ritu is a well deserving winner. Besides being India’s most senior designer, Ritu is truly passionate about Indian clothes. And her clothes are timeless.

The block prints and chikan collection that she designed 15 years ago could be worn even today. But it was not just the designers who were recognised that night as fashion is not just about clothes. Where would the designer be without the make-up artists and hair stylists, the photographer and the models? So even the technicians were given awards. Mickey Contractor won for Best Make-up Artist, Delhi’s Ambika Pillai walked away with Best Hairstylist and Farrokh Chotia with Best Photographer. In the models category awards were given to Fleur Xavier, John Abraham, Mehr Jesia and Milind Soman. But what was really made this award ceremony special was the fact that most awardees flew to Bangalore for the occasion and when presented with their trophies all seemed genuinely moved. And now that the fashion industry has its own ceremony let’s hope it will inspire all in the industry to work harder, and finally get India a place on the international fashion map!

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