Kolkata: A three-day fashion extravaganza
to be held in Guwahati, which had ace designers Ritu Kumar and
Wendell Rodericks participating, was postponed indefinitely
today after the organisers received threatening calls from
militants.
"The event has been postponed due to security reasons as
we thought it unwise to hold the event following the threat
calls," Paramita Saha, CEO of Arts Forward, the organisers of
the event, told PTI here.
Billed as the Northeast's largest and first-of-its-kind
fashion blitzkrieg, 'North East Fashion Weekend' was scheduled
to begin tomorrow in Guwahati.
The list of designers also included names like Atsu
Sekhose, Rina Dhaka, Soumitra Mandal, Nandini Barua and
Sailex.
Bollywood celebrities were also expected to participate
in the event as showstoppers.
"It is disappointing for us to do so, but we were left
with no other choice as we cannot take any risk," she said.
The matter has already been reported to the police, Saha
said, adding that they have not been able to finalise a later
date for the show.
"We have no idea as to when would we be able to hold the
fashion event now. Many things need to put in place before we
finalise anything," she said.
The news has left many aspiring designers and models of
the region disappointed as the fashion event was also touted
as a platform to promote talent from the Northeast.
The organisers had recently conducted a model hunt and an
emerging designer hunt at Shillong, Guwahati and Dimapur to
give local talent a national-level platform.
"We had plans to catapult budding designers from
Northeast to national fame via entry into the emerging
designer competitions of other national fashion weeks," the
organisers said.
When contacted, the police in Guwahati refused to
comment.
-PTI
First Published: Tuesday, August 10, 2010, 21:21