The big bazaar

Come Wednesday and Pragati Maidan will be abuzz with haute activi ties, courtesy: Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Autumn /Winter 2008. So what's really in store for the fashionistas this time? HT City gives you a sneak peek.

All things fresh
This is the first time ever that a fashion designer would not be present for his show. We are talking about designer Rajesh Pratap Singh, who will be designing costumes for an opera ballet Padmavati, which is to be staged at Theatre Du Chatelet, Paris.
And while our very own Bollywood celebrities are going to grace the ramp yet again, playback singer Alka Yagnik will make her debut by walking the ramp for Kolkata based designer Sucheta Merh.

Wait there's more in the firsts list - designer Ritu Kumar's son Amrish Kumar will make an appearance on the ramp for the first time. The young designer says, "This Fashion Week will be a culmination of work that has happened in the last two years... I am not trying to proclaim that I have a huge experience in the fashion field, but yes now I feel I can hold my own fort."

Are you nervous? "The ramp thing still makes me very uncomfortable... I am happy to take her (Ritu Kumar) legacy forward and bring my own thing to it."

Served haute
If you thought Amrish is the only one with butterflies in his stomach, think what the aspiring lot, who will be making a debut this season, would be going through? Six new models and an equal number of designers to be precise.

While Azara by Alpana and Neeraj and Rahul Reddy will make their ramp debuts, Ankur and Priyanka Modi, Atsu Sekhose, Aruna Singh and accessory designer Amishi Dhanuka will showcase their collection at the exhibition stalls.

At the same time six neophytes - Anushka Sharma, Kristina, Debby, Daria, Ritu Singh, Anchal Oberoi - will share the ramp space with veterans like Noyonika Chatterjee, Sapna Kumar and Carol Gracias.

Biz buzz
Besides bigwigs like Alan Bilzerian from the US, Anastasia from California, Beams from Tokyo and Biffi's from Milan, five agents (public relations and sales) from France will also be present at the Fashion Week. Summet Nair, executive president, FDCI, says, "These agents have huge stores that showcase collections from all over the world to a host of international buyers. In that sense, these agents' presence means big business."

Also FDCI, this time, will have representatives from the Canadian Council. To make the event more buyer friendly, FDCI plans to hand out "special buyer DVDs" that will have a three-minute presentation on each designer comprising the designer's biography and a record of his previous collections.

New format
This year designers' creations and their sensibilities have been allocated different categories -Heritage/Synthesis, Contemporary and Creator.