The designer applications for Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) for its upcoming Summer/Resort 2010 event in March has increased by 30 per cent.
The Advisory Board members of LFW met yesterday to select the GenNext and Emerging Designers for the upcoming LFW 'Summer/Resort 2010' scheduled from March 5 to March 9.
Anil Chopra, advisor, Lakme said that LFW received 159 designer applications (95 GenNext and 64 Emerging) from across the country which is 30 per cent more than the previous season.
Nearly 50 per cent of these applications were from outside of Mumbai. The Advisory Board members, with their consistent focus on quality standards, shortlisted 14 of the most talented designers - 8 GenNext and 6 Emerging designers - who met the judging criteria of -Quality, Innovation and Creativity, Marketability and Commercial viability.
LFW announced the concept of a formal Resort platform for Indian designers, intended at increasing the exposure and business opportunity along with providing global relevance.
This has garnered a phenomenal response from across designers to show Resort collections. Several designers who showed Men's Wear are moving to showcase Women’s Wear/Resort this season.
In view of this, the LFW board decided not to have a dedicated Mens Wear Day and therefore LFW will not conduct male model auditions this season as no additional male models will be required through the audition process. The female model auditions will continue as planned.
Chopra said, "The Advisory Board supported our move to focus on Summer/Resort and unanimously agreed that the season shift and the step towards formalising Resort Wear will create stronger trade linkages between India and the global market."
This was reinforced by the over all interest Resort has generated in the fraternity and the enormous number of applications received from the different category of designers to showcase this season.
"Internationally Resort Wear is commercially viable because of trends and being ‘season neutral’. This move is a major step for the business of fashion and Indian design talent," he said.
Sujal Shah, Head of Fashion, IMG, said applications received were pan-India with a few entries from overseas as well. The scale and breadth of these applications continue to impress the Board.
The perception of Indian designers internationally is that of immense talent with great potential for business, and as organisers of LFW it is our endeavour to discover and put forward the best, he said.
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