Fashion retail needs structure: Radhika Dhawan

Radhika Dhawan, fashion brand strategy and marketing consultant is the brain behind Fashionably Connected - India's first fashion networking and knowledge sharing platform. It is a membership club that aims to create a networking platform for people in the fashion industry and connect people in the fashion industry with each other for professional and personal development. It also hopes to offer exposure for the fashion professionals in their local community and to fashion-conscious consumers world-wide.

How did the idea of Fashionably Connected shape up? What do you aim to achieve with this venture?
The idea occurred to me three years ago. I felt that in the fashion and luxury space, individuals wanted to reach out to people but no real platforms existed besides, of course, the fashion weeks. There's a dearth of professional and personal growth in the fashion space. The lines demarcating fashion, luxury and retail were blurring and this platform hopes to bring them together. I tried doing it over the last few years but it somehow didn't work out but I'm glad we got a great response for Fashion Thursday, which was hosted last week,

What were the key learnings from Fashion Thursday?
I gauged from the feedback that this idea was there at the back of everybody's mind but putting it together was a task. I aim to host it every month and there will be various layers added to it as we go ahead. We'll get international designers, luminaries from high fashion to discuss and exchange ideas and thoughts. We also aim to take it online. It'll be a sort of a fashion club and a number of perks will be provided to the members.

Fashion in India is relatively new. What do you think fashion retail space lacks?
We need a lot more structure. There is a lot of talent but it's not channelised in the right direction. It's a small step to get media, buyers and merchandisers on one platform.