Rites of the Runway

The Graduate India Fashion Week to be held in October will give the first ever professional platform to young designers from India and abroad.

This October,the new generation among the countrys fashion designers will take over the ramp. Thanks to the Graduate India Fashion Week,organised by the Pune-based institute FAD (Fashion,Art Design),an entire fashion week will look at the seams and stitches,creativity and passion of young fashion graduates. Participation is open to students from design schools across the country who will interact both with the buyers and the media.

GIFW was announced at the recently held FAD Gen-Next Fashion.Art.Design night at the Westin. Says Shivang Dhruva,director of the institute,and founder-director,GIFW,That event was a curtain raiser. GIFW will kickstart in Goa in October before coming to Pune in November. From the second season in February onwards,it will also be held in Mumbai,Delhi and Bengaluru. The first season seeks independent entries from young designers who have graduated in the last four years. Entries from final year design students are also welcome, Dhruva says. Entries from National Institute of Fashion Technology,School Of Fashion Technology,Pearl Academy of Fashion and National Institute of Design have poured in since registration opened on August 12. We will also have graduates from University of the Arts London,Nottingham Trent and Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) Italy, Dhruva adds.

Touted as an opportunity for younger designers to brand themselves and be mentored by established names in the industry,each day of the three-day event will have 4-5 shows one by a mentor designer,one by an international graduate and two or three by fashion graduates from India. The first season will help us identify loopholes and sort out teething problems. The second season will be on a much bigger scale and will include collections from institutes as well as individual shows, Dhruva says.

Ketki Srivastava,a 2011 fashion graduate from FAD who will be working with Mumbai-based designer Preeti Jhavar,views this as an excellent morale booster. Buyers from all over will view the collections. Those who are selected will also get media exposure, she says. Srivastava who has already interned with Wendell Rodricks and Goa-based designer Philu Martins,says,Theres a lot one has to learn before starting ones label, she says.

Another young,Bengaluru-based designer Elisheva Rao agrees. Experience is what one really learns from, she says. Im so glad that we now have a fashion week for us. It will help us get our names out there.

A screening process chaired by an international academic panel will filter the final participants. The design concept will be assessed with the mood,colour and fabric boards. Once shortlisted,the next step is a 3D viewing of the collection followed by a check on production–process and capability, says Dhruva. The GIFW website will be launched this weekend for aspiring participants to apply online.

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