Bollywood now hijacks Indian ramp

Bollywood now hijacks Indian ramp

HOW serious are fashion week organisers about generating business for the participating designers? Going by what one saw at the recently concluded events – two fashion weeks in Delhi and one in Mumbai, it seemed as though they were Bollywood film premieres. If a show did not have a strong star presence then the poor designer hardly made any news.

Most TV and print media reported about the star turn out. The bigger the star roster the more air time and print space was garnered by the show which completely negated the very purpose of a fashion week which is the business of fashion.

Narendra Kumar's men's show had Kangana Ranaut as the opening and closing entry. Her pictures hit the newspapers. Meanwhile, Narendra Kumar's men's styles hardly made news. Akshay Kumar's antics on the ramp completely over-shadowed Tarun Tahiliani's denim collection. When Shahrukh Khan walked the ramp for Manish Malhotra, there were more questions about the Kolkata Knight Riders than the designer's clothes at the post-show press conference. Deepika Padukone walked the ramp for Tarun Tahiliani and the media was swamped with images of this rising star but not of Tarun's creations. So is Bollywood once again hijacking another industry? It has become de rigeur to call in a Bollywood star to helm advertising campaigns of various brands. Bollywood has also made inroads onto the cricket field where teams are now owned by top stars and the game has gradually been pushed into the background. Even charity causes have Indian stars in the limelight campaigning for events like the Mumbai Marathon and Cancer Relief Fund where they are more visible in front of the camera than the actual cause.

Where will all this glamour take the fashion industry? Will it mean that the business of fashion, if it wants to succeed, has to ride piggy back on Bollywood? What happens to truly talented designers who don't know anyone from the film fraternity and hope that their creativity will speak for them?

Fashion in India is degenerating into a Bollywood extravaganza where there are tamashas and drama which completely distracts the buyers and the media from the real creations, the trends, the quality of the finish and the collections which are being presented. It is said that only two things succeed in India —Bollywood and cricket — and now the former has even grabbed the latter's thunder.

It is high time that fashion week organisers realised that star-studded shows should be kept outside the programme. Instead some interactive shows which brought in only serious buyers and the media should be held, since many of the serious buyers are now shying away from attending these gimmicky shows and prefer to talk to designers privately.

After a decade of fashion weeks, it is sad that the shows have to depend on star attendance to attract publicity instead of relying on the inherent talent of our designers.

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