Ahmedabad Fashion Week 2009

This won't come as a surprise! By now you and I are used to hearing feelers of such news practically every week! This one is called Ahmedabad Fashion Week (AFW) tentatively to be held from 27th-29th of Nov. The week will last for three days and they promise to showcase young and established design talents including regional boutiques and jewellery collections. Though the organization is still running on the meandering track to finalize the big names of the industry which is not a tuough task when offering an all expense paid show! But despite trying to buy support, it's not that easy afterall to convince someone for lending their name to an unborn baby! Ahmadabad based designer Digvijay Singh who has been a part of Lakme Fashion Week for quite some time now, states, - Ahmadabad is the hub for fabrics and textiles and this event can attract good business if done properly. but it seems AFW is going to be more like AFF (Ahmadabad Fashion Fair) due to the involvement of local boutiques and jewellery stores. We have to wait and watch to see the outcome as things are still shaping up at their end.

Though for designers there is no harm in doing a paid show or getting a store opening opportunity in the city, what happens to real business in such circumstances is a point of contest. Vineet Dhingra (owner of Chamomile) comments-Even though I'm not aware of the Ahmadabad Fashion Week and as of now Chamomile might not be participating in it, I believe that Fashion weeks are a good opportunity for media, buyers, designers and the fashion connoisseurs to come together. From the perspective of Fashion retail, there is now a greater need for focusing on ground realities and making the business of fashion more viable for both buyers and sellers. Designer Rahul Mishra, an NIDian from the city informed that he received an invitation to be a part of AFW. Fashion Weeks mushrooming everyday is not good for our current fashion scenario. India is still not such a big fashion hub where we require those many fashion weeks but the current truth is- we have more fashion weeks than the number of fashion consumers and followers which is definitely not favourable.

There has been enough discussion on the number of fashion weeks questioning the authenticity of it and everyone has different views about this. The question is- what is the purpose of doing a fashion week and do the ones sprouting everyday solve any of the purposes or just appear as entertainment and publicity events? It is perhaps a question each one of the following has to answer- the media, the designer and the buyer.