Online rampage

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The rule of demand and supply governs all business equations. In a country of billion and rising, not everyone has access to real life runway shows, but thanks to the rampant social networking sites one can now easily access the live shows and get instant reviews by surfing the official webpages.

At the ongoing Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Autumn-Winter 2013, one can find a battery of bloggers and tweet-heads, who constantly update the latest show reports and self-made videos of fashion world. What makes the online buzz so important in current times? We find out.
Even though fashion weeks are highly exclusive, to create the maximum impact among the fashion followers across the globe, the visibility factor plays a key role. For the organisers, the online presence is as important as any other medium. This is the second season of WIFW where the organisers have deployed a special mobile IT office at the venue, where a team of ten people constantly update pictures on the official Facebook page after each show.
Atul Chand, divisional chief executive, ITC’s Lifestyle Retailing Business Division, says, “WIFW has been at the forefront of online media communication with innovations and exciting content that brings fashion closer to the consumer. We have set up a team that streams shows live on the official Facebook page. This allows a wider audience to experience the glamour of the fashion week. We have got Neha Dhupia as the Twitter Face of the WIFW, as she enjoys a large fan following on Twitter.”
Speaking about her association, Neha Dhupia mentions, “Being an ardent lover of fashion, I am really excited to be attending and tweeting about the shows. I am attending the shows of my favourite designers and posting my comments.”
Apart from social networking sites, one can even check out various news snippets and reviews about shows on official as well as individual fashion blogs. Surabhi Chauhan, a fashion blogger who tweets and posts at almost every show, reveals, “I have been writing my blog for the past five years and I post pictures and reviews of the shows every season. I even have a twitter handle where I post instant updates and get feedback from other fashion followers. Currently I have more than 12,000 followers on my twitter handle @lovestruckcow, and I feel it’s a great way to stay updated on latest fashion gossip and news.”
Even designers who were apprehensive till a few years back about sharing their details online, are now embracing the online medium as a powerful way to connect to their clients. New age designer Kiran Jaisinghani of the label Myoho, says, “Our show will be streamed on the official page and I am happy that it will be seen by over 50,000 followers on Facebook. The kind of market we target is very active online and they share and promote fashion trends that they see on their Kindles, iPads and smartphones. We too have our own page where we get enquiries and orders from across the world, hence I feel virtual presence is very important in fashion.”