Women Fashion Models and Designer

Inspired by subjects as varied as icon Mother Teresa to the sunflower and 160 buyers, 75 designers responding, India’s top designers are readying to showcase their spring-summer lines at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) that kicks off Wednesday, the first time two such shows will be hosted in a year in keeping with international practices.
We are not trying to spring surprises every time we host a fashion week,” says Rathi Vinay Jha, Director-General of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), about India’s largest fashion bonanza. “Our main aim is to enhance the business potential with each event.”

Coming close on the heels of the fall-winter edition in April, the Aug 30-Sep 3 event marks a quantum leap forward for Indian fashion as it is the first time the country will be hosting two shows a year in line with international practices. Beth Sobol of Sobol Fashion Productions Inc., the owners and producers of the Miami Fashion Week (MFW) will also be present and will interact with participating designers to apprise them of the events and opportunities for Indian designers at MFW 2007.
Of the 160 buyers, 70 are from abroad - a veritable creamy layer from 14 countries including the US, Britain, France and Russia. Among them are Galeries Lafayette and Maria Luisa (Paris), Marubeni (London), Sunmotoyama (Japan), Tsum (Moscow), Zoxx Colours for Living (Israel), Sanskrit (Hong Kong), Zinia Fashion (Kuwait), Indomix Inc. (US), The Fashion House (Dubai), and Shatoosh (Spain).

Noting that FDCI is committed to promoting its member designers both in India and internationally, Jha added: “In line with this aim, the FDCI is forging relationships with renowned international media and fashionistas to enable greater exposure of the Indian fashion industry to the world.”
WIFW will feature some of India’s top fashion and accessory designers including Ritu Kumar, Rina Dhaka, Deepika Govind, Ashish Soni, Leena-Ashima, JJ Valaya, Tarun Tahiliani, Manish Arora - who will open and show - and Manish Malhotra, who will bring up the grand finale.

As part of this effort, an audition held earlier this month that 60 upcoming models participated in threw up 16 ‘New Faces Going Places’ who will feature for the first time at WIFW. These 16 have walked the ramp before but WIFW will be the big ticket for them to rub shoulders with their peers and boost their careers.
The lucky 16: Donna Katharien (Miss Maxim India 2006), Sonal Sharma, Garima Parnami, Vaishali Ramaswamy, Ekta Chowdhary, Manasvi Mamgai (all from Delhi), Rachel Maria Byros (Bangalore), Sanjukta Das (Kolkata), Priyanka Shah, Vibhinita Verma, Diana Penty, Shubhra Aiyappa, Sannae Shaekh, Amruta Phatki, Anurita and Shruti Agrawal (all Mumbai).