Indian fashion Gurus get a call from Paris

FASHION: The high-profile Tranoi fair to be held in Paris invites 14 Indian designers and selects 'Made in India' as its next theme.

Fourteen top Indian fashion designers will take part in the prestigious Tranoi Fair to be held during the Paris Fashion Week.

The list includes Tarun Tahiliani, Rohit Bal, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Abraham & Thakore, Ananmika Khanna, Ashish Soni and Rakesh Agarwal.

The fair was first held in 1986 and is considered to be a significant event. It is often described as edgy and is one of the premier fashion trade shows along with Coterie and Premier Vision. The fair sees participation from almost 8,000 professionals and 300 international brands. It does not allow visitors.

This time, the Tranoi fair will have India as the theme. To be titled Made in India, the fair will have an Indian pavilion from October 2 to October 5 and then from March 2 to March 5.

“Last year, we did a Japan theme. This year we want to showcase the art and craft of India,” says Michael Hadida who, along with his father, has owned the fair for six years.

Long ridiculed for being on the fringes of the global fashion fraternity, this could be the opportunity Indian designers have been waiting for all their lives to show their mettle. Celebrities at home, they have so far failed to make a mark outside the country. Some experts feel it will boost India’s profile as a modern design hub.

It is perhaps because of the high profile of the fair that it split wide open the Indian fashion industry. For those who have tuned in late, the question of participation in the fair led to bitter infighting among the members of the fashion industry.

Some Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) members alleged that the former executive director, Sumeet Nair, presented a list of designers favoured by him to the organisers of Tranoi as possible participants. This led to angry e-mail exchanges. Finally after much mud-slinging Nair resigned from his post and some prominent designers decided to exit from the FDCI-organised fashion week.

Hadida had to visit India to “clear the situation”. As for the misuse of the Tranoi name in the whole fight, Hadida said: “Our name has been manipulated.”

FDCI President Sunil Sethi said the council is willing to support any designer who requires financial aid for participation in the fair.

FDCI also hopes to organise sponsors for the designers and will act as the nodal body. Hadida will revisit India to attend the FDCI-organised fashion week later this year.

Interestingly Hadida is also talking to Subodh Gupta, the superstar artist, whose work has caught the imagination of foreign buyers and has been selling in the range of a few crore. “The discussion with Gupta is still on,” says Hadida.