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| Mixed bag for Kolkata Fashion Week II |
| Pradipta Mukherjee / Kolkata Sep 14, 2009, 17:26 IST |
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Event seen as more ‘serious’ than the first one
It’s yet another “baby step” and some disappointment for the second edition of the Kolkata Fashion Week.
While the organisers and most fashion designers maintain that the second edition of KFW is ‘more serious’ than its first edition, a few participants like Salman Khan, and even the title sponsor Emami, backed out from KFW II, on the eve of the event.
Pratik Sen, director, Mindscapes Maestros Events and Sports Management, the company who masterminded the event, said, "This is only a one-year-old property and a good platform for encouraging new designers. A lot of buyers, both domestic and international, have shown interest in the products available at KFW II.”
However, designers present at the event last year said, “While the first event was more of an awareness creation, the second season is expected to see more serious buyers.” But post-event, ‘buyer enquiry’ and ‘serious show’ is all that the designers can boast of.
Designer Mona Sachdev of Mona-Pali fame, said, "This year I did not take a stall so I did not have any buyer enquiry. But the show is a sucess."
Designer duo Dev and Nil, said, “KFW is a baby and is taking small steps. Like any other baby, we have to give it some time to mature. KFW is one of the biggest events for Kolkata and more than anything else, it builds an awareness about fashion in this part of the country and provides an encouragement for budding designers.”
KFW II was hosted between September 9 and 13, with a focus on ‘Earth Couture’ as the year 2009 has been declared as ‘The International Year of Natural Fibre’ by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.
"Apart from providing 16 new designers a chance to showcase their creations, we would also have a nationwide model hunt from where we will shortlist 20 contestants who would participate in the second season of Kolkata Fashion Week," said Yudhajit Dutta, managing director of Mindscapes.
Mindscapes Maestros also put together a website for KFW 2, designed by Autumn Advertising.
"Moreover, we have tied-up with msn.com and AirMe in order to make our show and content available online," added Pratik Sen of Mindscapes.
Ritu Kumar, Bibi Russel, Manish Malhotra, Wendell Rodricks, Rocky S, and Narendra Kumar were some of the designers who participated this year.
Among pitfalls, Kolkata-based fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company Emami, pulled out of its title sponsorship at the event citing contractual issues. Although the extent of sponsorship is now known, Yudhajit Dutta had told Business Standard earlier that organising an event as large as KWF costs close to Rs 5 crore.
According to designer Rahul Khanna, "Kolkata is a different market for us,and we are going to build on our affordable collection priced between Rs 3,000 and Rs 15,000. We expect the affordable range to boost sales for us."
Designer Wendell Rodricks, said, "Since many years now, Kolkata has emerged as a bed of talent. Even at Lakme Fashion Week, Gen Next, there were five designers from Kolkata, out of eight designers. Our collection at KFW would be reasonably priced, between Rs 1,700 to 12,000."
KFW II had close to 15 sponsors, including Kingfisher Beer, Kingfisher Bohemia, Aircel, Cotton Council International, TVS, Reliance, Big TV, Fly Kingfisher, Max Factor, NDTV, Zoom, Radio Mirchi, MSN, INIFD, Mufti, Wanted, GenX, among others.
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