Style Split

Though the Kolkata Fashion Week has already started to show split ends,Neha Panda,a final year fashion designing student at NIFT Kolkata,refuses to share the senior designers’ concern. “More fashion weeks mean more opportunities for us. It is very difficult to get a platform to showcase our works. The multiplicity of choices,gives beginners like us more inroads into the industry,” says Panda. A feeling echoed by design school students across the country. While contacts and sources still play an important role in deciding an aspiring designer’s entry into the industry,the rifts in the fraternity have actually opened up avenues for them. “Showcasing in a fashion week is still a matter of a considerable investment and recommendations. Local designers,who are big names in the industry too urge organizers to promote designers from local design schools etc,” says Sudarshan Sharma,3rd year student of NIFT Mu mbai.

With design schools sprouting across the country,the multiple fashion weeks have come as a boon in disguise for students. “With the organizers out to out-do each other,and maintain exclusivity at the same time,they have to give fresh talent a chance. The big names can’t be repeated at all the events,” says Sudhanshu Sonkar of NIFT,Mumbai.

But showcasing a at a fashion week doesn’t always ensure a buyer. “The buyers are confused as to where to go. Most often they don’t turn up at the city-based fashion events or spare time for new designers showcasing in them,” says designer Paromita Banerjee,who debuted at the LFW.