Saturday 5th Dec, 2009 – Capital closed yet another but not the last Fashion Event of the year. The India International Fashion week started on the 3rd December, first of its kind with an absolutely new angle to the concept of Fashion, the event was aimed at not the regular audience. OIIFW ’09 was organised by the Riya Communication in association with Oxybleach, a product from the house of Dabur. With every passing year the remarkable increase in the number of fashion shows and fashion weeks certainly tilts the scale to an increasing number of fashion consumers. The fact yet to be determined remains that is the fashion industry equally graduate to meet the demands of a fashion aware society?
Sanjay Kapur, Managing Director, Riya Communications opines, “The whole idea of this event is to introduce international designers to India so that the consumers get an idea of the international trends and these designers also get a hang of the Indian fashion industry. Through this event we would help India utilize its strength of providing expert quality and cheap labour internationally and thus we are opening the gateway for an alternative business route for India.” Kapur hopes to make the fashion week an annual affair.
The fashion week, well conceptualized lacked a warm response from the fashion fraternity be it media, designers, buyers or fashion critics. The only impact it left was to make us wonder the purpose behind such an event where international designers from USA, Tanzania, Spain, Israel, Romania, Atlanta, Pakistan, Norway, Dubai and India presented their collection.
Looking at the other side of the coin, the team that put together the fashion week had some of the best creative and renowned names from the International fashion scene. Choreographer -Andres Aquino, Producer of Couture fashion week, New York. Director Make Up – Mahealani Diego Hollywood Make-up Artist and has worked with many celebrity faces and whose extensive works have appeared in various projects such as ABC’s Lost, Sak’s Fifth Avenue, and her fashion work has been seen in New York Fashion Week, Couture Fashion Week and Bucharest Fashion Week. Director Hair Style – Federico Calce, the celebrity’s stylist at NYC’s Fashion Week, Federico has also worked with photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders on many celebrities like Eva Longora, Nicole Richie, Jessie Metcalfe, Catherine Zeta-Jones and actors as Nicole Kidman, Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sigourney Weaver, Alec Baldwin and Mel Gibson. The runway models were flown in for the event from New York and Italy.
The ramp set on ground level with casual seating arrangements, trying to match international standards had few astounding and directional design collections sashaying. The most charismatic place of the entire event venue was the action at backstage which was always abuzz with overflow of energy, exchange of creative ideas, the hair stylist running his comb with precision and the overtly creative strokes of the make-up artist. The sexy models added the glamour quotient with their patient presence in between waiting for their turn with the stylist. The lukewarm response on the main stage was something that had completely vaporized backstage as Mahealani Diego, the make-up artist created every look with utmost intensity. Catching up with her we also discovered her love for India as she proclaims herself to be India’s number one fan.
The strands of hair were never entangled with Federico Calce, hair stylist around. You would have easily mistaken him to be in hyper tension while styling a model but that is the only time he is most expressive about his creativity. The last show of the fashion week by Andres Aquino combined the opulence of theatrical charm with edgy fashion statements. Andres a multi talented personality, who also choreographed all the other shows, encapsulated his designs to be showcased by mythological goddess from across the world. So the entire crew geared up to dress models as Medusa, Nefertite, Goddess Laxmi and so on.
