The Business of Couture

The designer,and his maven set-designer Sumant Jayakrishnan,brought the grandeur of Pompeii,the story that had inspired Baroque art,architecture and design for generations to follow. The backdrop appeared to be a large slate rock,sculpted with faces. Wallpapers with Roman paintings were turned into giant frescoes. Golden wreaths were turned into headgear,and saris were draped like togas. The clothes pulled out all stops. They were as ornate as they could be palatable,with bales of printed velvet,shimmers,sequins,golden threadwork and metal corsets forming a major part.

Couture fashion is a designer’s showcase of what he can do best,if the price of things was not a consideration. Naturally,the setting and ambience plays a moot role in creating this fantasy. The jaw-dropping set,Varma conjectured later,could have cost probably Rs 60 lakh. “The fees were paid directly to the designer by the sponsor,” Varma said.

This mode of business is becoming increasingly usual in Indian fashion weeks,and there is a small clutch of ever-ready cash-rich companies looking to expend a few greenbacks (read,between Rs 10 and 20 crore per week) in exchange for easy publicity,paid advertising and oh — the mainstay — front row seats for them and their friends already. There’s barely a better way to up their “brand”.

The Aamby Valley India Bridal Week,managed by Vijay Singh,chairman,India Bridal Week and MD,Fashion One,started in Mumbai three years ago. Their modus operandi was to invite fashion designers to participate die gratis – they would cough up all expenses. Aside from paid news,no one paid notice. Until they moved it to New Delhi this year,where the big-ticket designers live and work.

Not only was travel,hospitality,production and model costs taken care of,each designer was provided a Bollywood showstopper. After each show,a raucous party at the hotel’s banquet hall ensued. An alcohol sponsor here was irrelevant,all the liquor was paid for by Aamby Valley. Journalists were flown in,including the London-based Imran Amed of the Businessosfashion.com (LVMH invested 1.3 million pounds in his website in February this year). Moreover,the Aamby Valley India Bridal Week is now a two-city affair,it moves to Mumbai in October.

“In India,bridal couture is all about opulence and a couture presentation about drama. We wanted to give designers a great set to go with their great clothes. Any show format is costly,so the production is provided from our end,” says Singh. He estimates each set to cost between Rs 25 and 35 lakh. “No one wants to spend their own money,” he says,denying that he paid designers over and above this to participate. “We have no reason to pay people to participate. They will participate if they see value in it,” he says.

This model has burned a hole in the hearts of designers who were paying participation fees to the rival and “official” body of designers for the PCJ Delhi Couture Week that followed mere days later. These designers have reportedly asked the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) to waive their fee to make it a fair game.

However,FDCI president Sunil Sethi says it is the norm at couture weeks in India to not charge designers for participation,but have them pay for their sets. “Sometimes,we do charge when we don’t have enough sponsorship,like last year,” he explains. “But this year,despite the competing bridal week,we had a good list of designers and sponsors. Audi is the number one company in its industry and it’s the first time a car company has been an associate sponsor. We are the ones who have the credibility,” he says. Nonetheless,Sethi says his budgets didn’t allow him for “OTT decorations at the venue. But sometimes,less is more,classy works better”.

However,designers who have moved to India Bridal Fashion Week have not only done so for financial perks. They claim the politicking of the FDCI is the main bugbear.

The Bridal Week has had the Big Daddy names of couture — Tarun Tahiliani,Rohit Bal,JJ Valaya,Varma and even Adarsh Gill,among others. The Delhi Couture Week had a younger and more interesting roster: the eye-popping Manish Arora,Gaurav Gupta,Varun Bahl,Monisha Jaising,and also big draws like Anamika Khanna,Manish Malhotra and Sabyasachi.

At Bal’s show,Sonam Kapoor,with necklaces in her hair for decoration,was the showstopper. The clothes were haunting reproduction of his frills and flounces with each embroidered piece telling a historical tale of its own. Gill,the discreet grande dame of Indian embroidery who made much moolah working with several European labels,was a treat. Model-actor Nargis Fakhri walked the runway for Ashima-Leena and the cutesy Alia Bhatt for the World Gold Council sponsored Azva jewels show. Tarun Tahiliani’s show was a suitable spray of Swarovski crystals and gold lame drapes; his showpiece lehnga,a duck-egg beauty splattered with crystals was worn by Lisa Haydon,supposedly cost Rs 17 lakh.

Meanwhile,at couture week,Manish Arora celebrated the kitsch in Indian weddings with street-art sets. This was his first bridal line for his ‘Indian by Manish Arora’ label,keen for a slice of the wedding-market pie. Sabyasachi was enchanting in a white-and-glimmer 1920s showcase and Anamika’s creativity made her the belle of the couture ball. Deepika Padukone was the showstopper for Manish Malhotra and Freida Pinto for Audi (Varun Bahl presented a line for the

car company).

Couture is the large dollop of butter on Indian fashion’s bread. In the west,Europe especially,the ready-to-wear margins supersede all else and couture shows are held for little else but bringing on a dose of glamour. India’s story is told contrarily. The malls are still new and few. Ready-to-wear retail is yet to set the cash registers ringing. It may be very well to have several stores in several cities,but as any designer worth his Page-Three mug-shot will tell you,the sprawling farmhouses and BMW-7 wheels come from making brides very happy.

In 2012,the wedding market in India was estimated at USD 25 billion (Rs 1,525 crore). Of course,this largely comes from jewellery,but hospitality and fashion are the next big expenses. Luxury brands seeking to entrench their feet here are realising ‘When in Dilli,do as the Dilliwallas do’. Gilted purses and high heels are being introduced exclusively for the Indian market,with names such as ‘India Exclusive’ and ‘Bollywoody’ (Gucci and Christian Louboutin respectively).

For Indian couturiers,the all-expenses-paid shows are all about keeping up with the times.