INIFD presents Lakmé Fashion Week
Fashion Workshop Series – ‘The Business of Fashion’
Mumbai, 1 sep 2010: Inter National Institute of Fashion Design (INIFD), India’s leading fashion and design education conglomerate with over 180 centres across India, in collaboration with Lakmé Fashion Week (LFW), India’s premier fashion and trade event have joined hands for the third consecutive season to promote Fashion Education and throw light on the Business of Fashion.
Taking this thought ahead based on the great success of the workshop last two seasons, INIFD this season has again sponsored the Lakme Fashion Week Fashion Workshop Series (FWS) aptly named ‘The Business of Fashion’ this year. FWS is being held on, August 31st, 2010 at Hotel Grand Hyatt for media, buyers, designers & students.
Fashion, as we all know is about freedom of creativity and thought, but requires a streamlined process to run a successful business. The Fashion Workshop Series unravels the Business of Fashion and present the process of business followed by the designer and the buyers.
Last season, the panel of fashion industry stakeholders discussed about the importance of fashion shows and domestic and international buyers talk about their respective buyer landscapes. Other important topics included, how the orders are placed, the production and manufacturing stage to meet the clients demands and lastly how one designer can promote and maintain his image in the industry.
Ms. Ritu Kochhar – Corporate Director, NIFD Ltd. states, “This program is designed to introduce learners to the fast growing and competitive fashion design industry hence this is a great platform for designers to understand business of fashion. The workshop is segmented into various sections and gives explicit information about the designer’s inspirations along with all important thought processes.”
Moderating this session
Sujal Shah - VP & Head of Fashion IMG India: Previously served as Senior Advisor to IMG for LFW Spring/ Summer 2010. Before engaging with LFW, he was the Head of Strategy and Planning at Brand Marketing India where he focused on developing new business processes and innovative partnerships to expand the reach of business across international brands such as Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Bottega Venetta, Calvin Klein, French Connection and Tommy Hilfiger. Sujal brings with him, diverse experience in various fields focusing on Luxury and the HNI’s in the US and India. Previously, Sujal served as a Director of Co Branded Partnerships and Business Development for American Express in New York. Sujal holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.S. from Georgetown University.
The day long workshop covered the following topics:
§ Ramp to Store
§ Pricing
§ Fabrics
§ Trends
§ Seasons
§ Delivery Times
§ Consignment v/s buying
§ What sells in each store
An important session in Fashion Workshop Series has thrown light upon the Future of Fashion with an emphasis on E-commerce for the first time along with discussing the Buyer-Designer relationship.
The Fashion Workshop Series comprised of elite panelists-
Designers Buyers
• Narendra Kumar • Pearl Uppal - Fashion and You
• Neeta Lulla • Caroline Young – Independent Buyer
• Nachiket Barve • Sushil Jhaveri – Fuel
• Ritu Kochhar • Aparna Badlani – Zoya
• Masaba Gupta • Srimoyi Bhattacharya-PR agency
• Darshta Sarvaiya
• Riddhi & Siddhi MapxcencaRS
Profile of Panelists
Narendra Kumar - Designer
He is a widely respected name in the fashion business. Nari, as he is popularly known as in the industry, has his own designer line under ‘Narendra Kumar’ for men and women. He has been a Fashion Consultant for some of the top clothing brands in the market such as Raymonds, Reid & Taylor, Will Sports and Killer. The designer continues to work with many fashion publications.
Neeta Lulla (Designer)
From simplicity to royalty, Neeta Lulla has been one name which has been prevalent in the industry since two decades now. The designer has been an active contributor in giving the actors a look to die for. Her designs have not only been recognized in India, but have also acquired great acclaims globally. An expert in bridaltrousseau and a national award winner, Neeta Lulla has a whole bunch of Bollywood biggies in her kitty as her clientele. From Sridevi, Juhi Chawla, Tabu, Mahima Chowdhary to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan the designer has roped them all.
Nachiket Barve - Designer
This famous designer has trained at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, besides studying at ENSAD Paris on a scholarship awarded by the French Government. He is renowned for his innovative and modern use of Indian textiles and techniques in a contemporary way for fashion. He has worked with Michael Kors at CELINE in Paris as well as with couturiers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla and textile designer Neeru Kumar.
Ritu Kochhar - Corporate Director, NIFD Ltd.
She is a prominent educationist, leading columnist and Fashion Critic. In her current capacity, she is the founder Director of NIFD Ltd, having largest design Institute network of 180 centres in India and Abroad. Founded in 1995 National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFD) has moved from National to International after signing a MOU of technical collaboration with world leading Fashion Institute IMB- Milan (Italy) for offering programs in Fashion Design. INIFD also has technical collaboration with prestigious Annamalai University for offering Graduation and Post Graduation programs in Fashion, Textile and Interior Design. INIFD is the only Institute in India offering MBA (Design Management) in collaboration with Annamalai University. Ritu has written famous Weekly Fashion column, Fashion Hotline in Hindustan Times for 7 years and given Fashion tips to youth on BIG FM.
Masaba Gupta, Designer
Winning the most promising designer award at Gen-Next show last season at Lakmé Fashion Week was her ticket to the runway and she shut her critics up by letting them that she is here to stay. Masaba Gupta belongs to the upcoming and modern breed of designers and is greatly acknowledged at all Fashion Weeks. The damsel , whose name means ‘Princess’ in Swahili, she has taken the best of both the parents the very talented actress from yesteryears Neena Gupta and the West Indian cricketer Vivian Richards - be it the unconventional, sultry looks or intellectual bent of mind- she is set to rule the hearts of young fashion-lovers.
Drashta Sarvaiya – Designer
‘Drashta’ the ready-to-wear brand for women offers semi-formal to couture western outfits. The brand is a unique blend of art and fashion and has gained tremendous popularity in a very short time period due to its strong signature look and competitive prices. Drashta Sarvaiya has once again scored on the fashion front with her Feminine, flirty and fussy collection at Lakme fashion week which will be quite a delicious stylish offering for not only women in India but across the shores for the coming season.
Riddhi Siddhi MapxencaRS - Designer
The MapxencaRS sisters showed their collection at the recently held Indian Premier London Fashion Week. Their collections are stylish and fashionable. The Designer duo label ‘MapxencaRS’ has kept stylish fashionistas in mind, and generally their collections are perfectly suited for a sophisticated party at a posh club. This season, the designer sisters will be participating in Lakme Fashion Week too. Their clientele includes famous personalities like Mugdha Godse, Ms. Parvathy Omanakuttan and many more.
Pearl Uppal - Fashion and You
Pearl is an MBA from IIT Delhi and an engineering graduate from Delhi College of Engineering and has over 10 years of success in driving growth in the India Internet Industry. One of the key architects of Yahoo!’s growth in India, Pearl grew the business 30X in 5 years. In recognition of her work, Pearl was awarded “Yahoo! Super Star” in 2007, the highest recognition of performance at Yahoo! Global level. She is considered one of the thought leaders in the Indian Digital Industry and is a regular speaker at Consumer Internet forums.
Caroline Young – Independent Buyer
Ms. Young’s growing national success is not surprising. A Japanese artist, Young’s works is collected all over the world, from England to Singapore, Hong Kong to Australia. She is also in the permanent collection of the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, and the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena. Her creations appeal to our sensitivity for beauty, to our love for a good story, to our curiosity about those who came before us, those who grew old in cultures older than our own.
Sushil Jhaveri – Fuel Fashion Store
Sushil Jhaveri, owner of an upmarket fashion and style store - Fuel offers pret, diffusion, home accessories, fashion jewellery, handbags, sarees and designer menswear. The store also caters to fashion-conscious teenagers. Their clientele includes some well-known names from Bollywood and other than catering to the people of Mumbai, this brand is also accessible to the people of Pune, Ahmedabad and Bangalore.
Aparna Badlani - ‘Zoya’ Store owner
Proud owner of a fashion store ‘Zoya’, Aparna Badlani having a keen eye for detail, a creative streak and a passion for perfection has led her to convert her dream into reality. Aparna Badlani brings to ‘Zoya’ her experience in the retail industry of over eight years which includes working with some of the best National brands. Aparna is the expert on Buying & merchandising and retail strategy. Zoya offers a complete, comprehensive stop for unconventional, yet chic, wearable fashion and has carved a niche for itself at a store that is known as a destination for experimental fashion and expressions in creativity. Zoya stands for understated fashion, with utmost attention given to silhouettes and drapes
Srimoyi Bhattacharya, PR agency
Srimoyi Bhattacharya, Managing Director, Peepul PR, brings over 14 years of experience and expertise in helping both start-ups and leading brands shape their image and support their growth, strategizing, creating and executing imaginative Public Relations programmes. She has experience working as both a PR agency executive and an in-house professional, focusing on corporate, lifestyle and public affairs. In her wide-ranging and international (Paris, New York, Mumbai) career, Srimoyi headed up PR for several brands in a broad spectrum of industries, from IT to lifestyle (hospitality, fashion, arts and culture).
About Inter National Institute of Fashion Design (INIFD)
Inter National Institute of Fashion Design (INIFD), India’s leading fashion and design education conglomerate with over 180 centers across India, over 1 Lac Pass Outs and approximately 15000 students passing out every year. INIFD aims to take education in fashion and design to the common man in India by providing quality design education at affordable fee right at their doorstep. Today, with collaborations from Istituto di Moda Burgo, Milan (Italy) and 80 year old Annamalai University, INIFD has presence across the length and breadth of the Continent.
INIFD celebrates its 15 years in its existence associating with India’s premier fashion and lifestyle event - Lakme Fashion Week. The synergy between the education and learning centre and the fashion week is a first ever attempt to integrate knowledge sharing between the leaders of the fashion business and the future of fashion in India. It’s a two way process wherein students get to be part of the fashion week at various levels, thus enhancing their practical skills and an on the other INIFD aims to leverage the successful talent base in the country who are part of the fashion week back into education. And set role models for the future generation. INIFD offers programs of study leading to the B.Sc. & MBA Design Management degrees. And various affiliate programs in Fashion, Interior, and Textile Design. All degrees are from Annamalai University and approved by DEC
