Glitz, glam and good buys

[1]

The grand five-day fest of fashion finally culminated on a happy note on Sunday. According to most designers, business was swell, and even first-time participants bagged some good deals from international and domestic buyers. Since the West is still recovering from the fiscal crisis, the major moolah came from the Middle Eastern clientele.
Sunil Sethi, president FDCI, says, “This time we had around 200 serious buyers from all parts of the world. Apart from high influx from the Middle East, we even had some representations from America and UK. Many designers have got major orders, and international buyers as well as domestic ones have placed instant orders. In terms of business, not only the seasoned designers but even first-timers have got a good response.”
Sahil Maggu, who owns a multi-designer store Azra in Raipur, attended WIFW for the second time and picked a mixed set of designers this season. He says, “For us both Western and Indian outfits are important, so we chose a mix of 10-12 new and established designers and placed our orders for next season. The shortlisted ones for us are Aneeth Arora, Pratima Pandey, Anupama Dayal and Divyam Mehta, as they offered us really good quality products at reasonable prices.”
Whereas Varun Malhotra, a buyer from Bradford, United Kingdom, who owns MJ International export house, says, “Even though the European market is very slow this time, the demand for Indian clothes hasn’t gone down. People in UK ask for Indian as well as Pakistani designers as their art and craftsmanship is very different from the rest of the world. This time I have placed orders with 28 designers, of which my favourites are designers Shruti Sancheti and Shweta Kapur, who did some really nice Indo-western ensembles.”
Designer Reynu Taandon of the label Mynah reveals that she has finalised good business deals from international buyers as well as multi-designer stores. She mentions, “We got a great response from the Middle East, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and South-East Asia. The surprise bonus were the domestic buyers and multi-designer store owners who came from B-tier cities and placed good orders with us. This clearly shows that within India the fashion market has gone up multifold.”
However, designer Jenjum Gadi, who did not showcase on the runway, claims that for him business was better this time as compared to last season. He says, “We had loads of enquires from Middle Eastern buyers this time who mostly ordered long gowns and full-sleeve ensembles. The European economy is still picking up so the major orders came from the other small stores and boutiques across the world.”