Couture Week gives designers scope for creativity: Sethi

At a time when the Indian fashion industry was about to split, Sunil Sethi was made the President of Fashion Design Council of India. Associated with the industry for more than two decades as a merchandiser and representative of Indian designers with names like Anthropologie, Crate & Barrel, Armani Casa etc, Sunil was roped in with high hopes. Two months later, he has not been able to bring back the dissenters, but surely things seem to have settled in the industry now. Not only that, he has announced India’s first Couture Week to be held in Mumbai from September 16. Shashank Chouhan of Spicezee.com asked him a few critical questions before the fashion event. Full Coverage: India Couture Week» Excerpts: Shashank: You stepped in as the FDCI President at a critical juncture for the fraternity. How are things now? Sunil: Yes indeed. Things are calm now. You see, I have been associated with the industry for 25 years now. I have a positive attitude. I take up a job to do it better. This one was surely a challenge- keeping the flock together. The good thing is that the big designers have a new confidence in FDCI and they are all with us. Shashank: From one fashion week, we will now have four with same season themes(FDCI, Lifestyle, Summet Nair’s and possibly FCI). Not very good news for the industry… Sunil: Mumbai and Delhi fashion weeks have their separate sets of designers. The problem will rise with the fashion week being organized by Sumeet Nair. Being a close friend of major designers associated with us, he has got nearly all of them showing at his fashion week. And that’s not good for anyone because in effect it will only be a change of venue. Same designers, same season, same place (Delhi)… Shashank: Then why couldn’t FDCI have pulled the strings and got the designers to stick with the official body? Sunil: This is a free world. If anybody wants to go anywhere, then nobody can really stop them. Designers are creative people. They tend to think from their heart. So in an emotional moment, some designers agreed to do the show for Sumeet as well. But we still have good rapport with them and the FDCI’s doors are open for them. In fact most of those designers are still a part of FDCI. The separate show in itself is an objection, but it will not stop the FDCI in any way from doing good work for Indian fashion. Shashank: Why didn’t the Government and FDCI join hands instead of Shankarsinh Vaghela announcing a separate body called Fashion Council of India? Sunil: The norms of the Government are a little too tough. Their body is going to have 30% quota for new designers. FDCI supports new designers but 30% is a large number for us. Moreover we have a criterion of picking up designers. Government norms are not acceptable to us. Having said that, I can say that the Minister has good intentions behind this. Shashank: But surely a joint effort could have been… Sunil: We were never consulted! We don’t really understand what they will do with another fashion body. The Minister was upset at the whole controversy in FDCI with big designers walking out earlier. But what nobody told him was that all of them are back with us. It was also media’s fault that they highlighted the fault lines, but not the cementing forces. Shashank: Were you apprehensive in those critical days that the government might take over the Indian fashion scene? Sunil: Never. We were sure government won’t step in. But we were thinking that there might be some kind of partnership… Shashank: Is Sumeet Nair- the bone of contention- associated with the upcoming Couture Week? Sunil: Not at all. That is wrong information. Sumeet has better media contacts than I and he has used them well to propagate this lie. He has created problems for everyone by organizing another fashion week. The media, designers, choreographers, models all are confused where to go since the two events (FDCI’s Wills Fashion Week and Sumeet Nair’s fashion week) are happening around the same dates. Shashank: Problem will be there especially for the buyers… Sunil: Of course. But you see FDCI has a loyal clientele. If they want to buy from anyone else I can’t stop them. Shashank: The first Couture Week…how did the idea germinate? Is the format different from your other fashion week? Sunil: Well the Council has been encouraging couture for a long time. Mrs Rathi Jha brought forth this idea. I have taken it up after her and our sponsors HDIL are really enthusiastic about it and have been supportive from day 1. The format is different in that we will give ample time and opportunity for the designers to bring out their creativity. Two shows a day, Rs 22 lakh is the budget for every designer and there will be no grand finale as such. Designers will have the freedom of how they want to present their collection. Shashank: But which market is bigger: prêt or couture? Sunil: Couture is big in India. But internationally it is prêt. Shashank: Wills Fashion Week is also round the corner. Anything new happening there? Sunil: No! You see Wills Fashion Week is a brand and a business. We don’t want to experiment with that. Experiments are up with the Couture Week. So no surprises there, expect the best like it is always. Full Coverage: India Couture Week»