Where’s the party tonight?

The fashion week’s original and self-proclaimed pioneering sponsor has scored a few hits alright,but many,many misses. For starters,Lakme has a great partner in IMG,the events company brings sophisticated planning into the five-day week. Logistics are in place,celebrities are brought in and managed and organisational details are well taken care of. IMG brought Naomi Campbell to India ,ties up with big-league cricketers to walk the runway and ensures the limelight lingers on.

Lakme’s fashion week has also turned out some gems,like Nachiket Barve and Rimzim Dadu. It brought Savio Jon back to fashion-weeking. And it ensures Sabyasachi’s ego is well-oiled and not eaten up by the ginormic-sized vanities of the Delhi lot and he keeps showing us some lovely and well presented work. Lecoanet Hemant and Malini Ramani presented delightful shows this year.

But as I’ve often stated,even face on,Lakme Fashion Week is just a notch above a college fest. It’s a great launch-pad for budding designers,but it’s far too easy to get in and get a show. It may showcase the Indi-kitsch young designers often turn out and chuckle at the lehengas the northerners adore,but can newbies afford to make and then sell such expensive garbs? I think not.

Moreover,the biggest buyers here are Aza and Kimaya,two multi-designers stores known best for bridal shopping. Tina Tahiliani,who owns and runs Ensemble,arguably the most reputed designer store in the country,makes far too few appearances here.

The newly positioned Resort season has many detractors too. Resort is not a seasonal collection; in the summer it’s a summer line,in the winter it’s called resort. Several designers claim it gives them no time to produce the collections,smaller designers are just happy for the sound byte. Nonetheless,someone forgot to tell Rocky S and Manish Malhotra,the former showcased bridal and Malhotra couldn’t make do without sneaking in some lehengas either.

That the cosmetics company is in it for the free editorial is well recognised; it’s far cheaper to sponsor an event than to pay for full-page adverts in six newspapers over five days. But the media’s interest here is waning,my colleagues are nodding off. You can ask people to stretch their imaginations only this far. Each year,they bring on a gimmick to generate excitement; whether it’s Vikram Chatwal’s Mai Mumbai show (for which Ms Campbell showed up) or the Christopher Kane for Tigi show. The Lakme promotions are ceaseless on the premises; journos are virtually forced into attending the Lakme Studio launches. This year,even the front-row-hungry socialites are giving it a skip.

This is Lakme’s former business head Anil Chopra and his trend-loving wife Sabina’s party,designer clothes and careers are just by the way.

( namratanow@gmail.com )