WIFW brings that time of the year where all the glamour and hi fashion meets real business in Delhi, the fashion capital of the country. This season at the event that showcased collection for the coming Autumn/Winter 2010/11 by 130 designers was well attended by the loyal buyers as well as a few new additions to the list. Fashionfad.in plunges in the business scene at the fashion week to dig out the buyers’ point of view of the entire event and what they expect from the Indian designers.

The buzz around at the fashion week this time somehow spelled less warmth than the usual thoroughfare. An emerging designer showcasing for the first time, who does not want to be quoted said, “We have been given quite an exhaustive list of buyers, can’t actually number how many of them but the list is two pages long. But I still feel there are comparatively less number of buyers this time, as I have been part of WIFW before when I was working for a renowned designer and this time the market seems lukewarm.”

The showcase of winter fashion for India has always been a little challenging as our country itself experiences winters only in the north whereas the south and east and western coasts remains pleasant, thus winter for us does not call for very warm trench coats or too much of woolen fabrics. And if there is wool it becomes difficult for the buyers from Mumbai and Middle Eastern countries to pick their choices unless the designers are open enough and provide some design solution of replacing the woolen or warm fabric with a breezier one without hampering the fashion and design quotient of the ensembles. But the European buyers who experience really cold winters demand for a more winter fashion that would be warm enough.

Julie Woodhead, General Merchandising Manager, The Collective, Madura Garments was present at the venue to look out for luxury designs for the new launched premium fashion store The Collective. She said, “Our’s is a menswear store and we have all the International couture designers and few very big names from the Indian fashion scene in the menswear segment. I have specifically been looking for menswear and WIFW seems to be entirely dominated by women’s fashion. Though the creations by the designers are very good and I have placed orders with Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Manish Arora for his bags and more.”

As very aptly pointed out by Julie Woodhead WIFW showcases more of womenswear and a very fractional proportion of menswear is visible. The question that arises here is that being the national platform for Indian Fashion how we let the menswear fashion go ignored.

Fausta Malingri, a buyer from Milan, Italy, said “I am not looking for embroidery but we want something which is more subtle and suits the European market. The design and creativity of the Indian designers is outstanding and I love the creations by Ridzyn, Tarun Tahiliani, Abraham and Thakore, Manish Arora, Namrata Joshipura, Gaurav Gupta and Gaurav & Ritika,”

Alessandra Dainelli, a buyer from Italy also comes looking for Indian sensibilities in cuts and styles. She has been truly impressed by the works of Cue by Rohit Gandhi Rahul Khanna, Sanchita, Prashant Verma (says she work is nice and has very strong sensibility) and Abraham and Thakore.

Helen Marlen from Italy, looks after the merchandising for seven high fashion stores, was here for the first time and said she had not been disappointed. She said, “The fashion industry in India is truly evolving and very promising so we look forward to India for more business and would definitely be there at the next edition of WIFW as well.”

The designers are set in a paradox to meet the requirements of different buyers and at the same time retain the strong sensibility and flavour of Indian design. Thus a right balance is very essential to meet the all colourful domestic market, the high on bling market of the Middle East and the subtle understated European taste.

The Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Autumn/ Winter 2010/11 summarized on Monday the 29th of March 2010, after a gala dose of fashion from 74 fashion shows, a total of 130 fashion and accessory designers, host models and ten new faces, the media buzz all that floated over the 5 days, errrr… 6 days long event.  After the cancellation of the first day the week took off with from the scheduled second day shows with panache and grandeur. The first day shows got added at the end of the fashion week as the sixth day named, the Grand Fashion Day by Sunil Sethi, President FDCI. The grand fashion day proved to be grand enough with the acclaimed quirky accessory designer Little Shilpa opening the day followed by the theatrical opulence of Nida Mahmood’s Sadak Chap. The WIFW though missed Satya Paul who is celebrating its 25 years of fashion as he cancelled his show after the first day’s cancellation.

This fashion week also went absolutely upfront and active on the internet this time as it saw for the first time live updates of each show by the official blogger of FDCI Harilein Sabarwal, tweeting by Farah Khan and live streaming of the event online. And yes we also saw the most glamorous and beautiful Sheetal Mallar behind the lens as she was official celebrity photographer catching the action backstage and finally she even graced the ramp for JJ Valaya on the last day last show. The star quotient and the Bollywood show stopper trend was much under reins as very few Bollywood guests came down and the clothes undoubtedly attracted the entire centrifugal force.

Art, fashion and social cause posed a picture perfect image with the unveiling of designed inspired art on auto-rickshaws which have been painted by twelve high profile artist. This collaboration is for the FDCI’s association with Khushi to support its global development initiative, the World Action Forum. For the first time in India six international World of Wearable art (WOW) designs were showcased highlighted with a photo exhibit by India’s ace photographer Rohit Chawla featuring fifteen other garments. And winning design of Burn contest which was a garment created out of empty cans was also showcased.

The venues woes though kept surfacing now and then while you had to go out in the sun each time you wanted to visit the stall area or the washrooms and the entire media traffic was transferred in an opposite direction for lunch and dinner. As usual the sponsors had their stalls and lounges in the premises of the main show area.

An unofficial buyers list named around 18 International and 10 domestic buyers. The international thoroughfares came from Paris, Japan, Riyadh, Hong Kong, Italy, Kuwait, Dubai, Bahrain and USA. The rendezvous at WIFW ended with satisfied business transactions as the buyers seemed quite impressed with India’s fashion scene and raising the hopes of ascending fashion and business at the upcoming WIFW.