Feature

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...

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...

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...

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...

Bollywood Boulevard. Filmistan. Cine Walk. Name it what you will. But, just imagine A nation almost hysterical about its film stars. A nation that hums the same ditties whenever a film is set to hit the box-office. A nation where Bollywood could well be synonymous with a ramp that entertains you with a song-music-dance and a story where fashion seduces in a riot of wispy chiffons, luxurious silks, casual skirts or natty shirts and trousers Fardeen ‘Provogue’ Khan gave the shirt brand an...

Luxury… interesting word… roll it around your tongue and you feel the rich luxurious texture… luxury is luxury… there can be no other word for it, there could not have been any other word for it. And who better than India, nay Indians, to know it. We Indians know how well it rests cheek by jowl with the vaunted snake charmers, beggars, huts, shanties and slums that serve as home, sweet home. A chink through the slats of a hut; wink and gaze out of that chink caused where the weather-beaten slat...

From couture, to diffusion, to prêt. The designs of fashion in India, since the inception of the India Fashion Week just five years back, has seen the high-brow fashion designer stoop to meet the masses at their price points. From sheer drama on the catwalk to a drama created to draw buyers and not just mere applause to the rounds of cocktails and Pg 3 titter, the success of the annual Weeks can now be measured in terms of this gradual movement. Incidentally for this edition, ‘Join the fashion...

To say this is the worst of times for the Indian fashion designer would be an outrageous fallacy. To say this is the best of times also might not always ring truly true. I'm sure there will be raised eyebrows aplenty even over this assertion. But, let's look at simple figures. The prêt industry has the potential of generating business worth Rs 2,500 crore annually. The present day figures will not touch even a Rs 100 crore mark if it is just designer prêt we talk about, and this inclusive of...