Images BOF

Does this header sound far-fetched? Is the first question in the introduction above a pipe dream? Questions, questions, questions. Answers are there, but caught in the dreams that design a designer's world. Much is being said about the retail revolution – ongoing, at the threshold, to gain momentum… the industry is yet to decide as voices soft and sure emerge. What is missed out in the big story are the little stories that creep along at a snail's pace on a firm path. IMAGES BoF has been...

It will be a while yet before fashion designers in India can be the toast of the international market. India continues to be the flavour of the season, inspiring greats like Valentino to Oscar de la Renta, but what the Eurpoean and American markets want is a touch of India on clothing that is executed fine. "The Indian design that will really appeal to us will be that which gives an extra emotion. The designer will fly with his own wings. India is magical, the West is attracted to it," said...

Think big. Don't forget the masses when you're looking at the classes. Critical need of the country: How to build image of India as a country that produces high quality textile products. Break rules. Challenge established retail thinking and practice. Space enough for 50-100 new retail formats to come up. Make best use of opportunities available in market today before global players come in and take it away from us. Create/get merchandise to fill the mushrooming space in the country. Each one...

Lurking in the corners of mirth and merriment that mark the dawn of another year is always room for introspection and some retrospection. Umpteen times it has been said that India is in the midst of a retail revolution. And as the retail mass rolls along there are many who have added their own, lending momentum and even speed to the movement. There have been new impulses and pushes, imparting it a robust look. So long the movement has been more or less a consequence of an inertia that was...

It's all about filling spaces. There is this little war being plotted in the confines of some of the country's best board rooms. For some of the top players who are transforming the Indian retailscape, it could be the importance of winning numerous battles before the war is finally won. At stake is how big and wide is the retail space that one can claim in this subcontinent. At stake is not just the footprint alone. For grabs also is the wallet space of the increasingly shopaholic consumer. The...

It's a mad rush at most designer studios as the much vaunted couturiers of India Inc are still recovering from the hectic swirl that was the Lakme India Fashion Week (LIFW). Business has been great this year, as good as last year and even better than last year for some. Big orders have been contracted, sampling is on for some major buyers. Many deals have been struck, while some are in the process of being sealed. Tarun Tahiliani has Harrods, Shane and Falguni Peacock are doing samples for them...

Round neck, polo neck, V or U neck, the summery t-shirt is everyone’s favourite. Wear it in layers or as a singlet – the simple undergarment that it was when Yankie troops discovered European soldiers sporting it as a comfortable wear during a World War torn warm summer. The Americans discarded their woolly uniform and adopted the T, so much so that the 1920s saw the word ‘t-shirt’ incorporated in the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary. Then there is “The British Story” propounded by Harold Lipson, a...

A sea of orange in a five-star hotel. A 100-odd boisterous group of men and women, ranging from 25-50 years. A few blobs of orange shuttling up and down the lobby. It is evident they are all part of one group. This is a company that had just taken its employees out for a refresher course and the celebrations mark its end. It was the fluorescent orange that united this rambunctious lot. A keener eye would have perhaps detected a few sombre heads as they smiled more and laughed a tad lesser than...

Retail…Fashion retail… Fashioning retail…. Top of the mind words that echo and re-echo through IMAGES events as the effort continues to propel the business of retail and fashion lifestyle from its disorganised clutter to evolve into a corporate, organised, scientifically managed industry. After decades of waiting in the wings, retail is finally being heralded as the next sunrise sector of the country after IT, perhaps bigger. Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath affirmed: “I am here...

Puffing on a cigar in his study, Sherlock Holmes once makes a passing comment to Dr John Watson stating that the most intriguing crime is the one that is the most commonplace. The point here is not about crimes. It is about how we tend to miss the most obvious, the most commonplace. The Holmesian logic and perception can very well be applied to the Indian retail scenario. We all know that the Indian retail market is growing by leap and bounds. It is so obvious. Now. What is just as obvious is...