I’ve been absolutely fascinated by Latin America and the minute I got an invitation to be part of the Buenos Aires Fashion Week, I did not give it a second thought and jumped with joy and  said Yesss!

Short and sweet the 8 days, 5 in Buneos Aires, Argentina and 3 in Sao Paulo, Brazil were interesting.   The show was part of Buneos Aires Alta Moda and the initiative to have us there was of SRTEPC’s Executive Director Smita Bharadwaj and the Indian ambassador Mr. R.Vishwanathan, as well as Monica Socolovosky, one of the most experienced designers from Argentina. Luckily Nachiket and I had stress free fittings, and a great show followed, with applause and accolades for both of us!

 Girl friends were sending messages on my blackberry asking about the dishy 6 pack men, but honestly all I got to see were gorgeous beautiful women. Both the countries have real beauties, gorgeous hair and skin and fantastic bodies and a confident attitude. They love Indians, and India is hot right now thanks to the television serial ‘CAMINHO DAS INDIAS’, which is set in India, and is the most watched prime time soap in Brazil and will be aired shortly in Argentina too.

The Coffee drinking Brazil has suddenly discovered ‘Chai and samosas’. Talking to Indian restaurateur Lucky Daswani who’s settled there for 36 yrs now, said the no of Brazilians ordering chai and samosas has gone up dramatically. Indian influences are predominant with local Argentinean designers too. Argentina’s top model Ms. Dolores Barreiro has started a store called HOLII.  Right from the décor to the clothes its completely India inspired. Many other local brands have a strong Indian influence in their clothes and use Indian textiles. The synthetic & rayon export promotion council team showing their textiles at BAAM have been seeing a good growth in their orders.

From the cool restaurants and bars in Buenos Aires, to the uber fashionable stores in Sao Paulo where champagne is served all day and DJ’s spin music in trendy stores selling hip fashion, it was a WOW experience.

Posted by : Anita Dongre at 11:00 PM