Lights, camera, fashion...

In the next five days, over 80 fashion designers will vie for attention of 160 buyers from India and abroad.

The much-awaited Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WLIFW) 2006 runway shows will kick off today at The Grand hotel with showings by designers Niki Mahajan and Priya Kataria Puri. In the next five days, over 80 fashion designers will vie for attention of 160 buyers from India and abroad.

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Touted as the biggest fashion B2B event in the country, WLIFW was inaugurated by Commerce & Industry minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday evening. Over 70 international buyers from such renowned stores as Harvey Nichols (London), Bloomingdales (Europe), Maria Luisa (Paris), L'e claireur (Paris), Tsum (Moscow), Selfridges (London), Harrods (London), De Bejinkorf (Amsterdam), SAKS Fifth Avenue (Dubai) and Sunmotoyama (Japan) are expected to take part in the event. Some of the prominent members of the international media are Elle (Europe)'s Adam Levin, New York Times/LA Times' Stephen Henderson, Women's Wear Daily's Betsy Lowther and Tatler's Geordie Grieg.

Among the 90-odd domestic buyers include names such as Be:, Alliance Merchandising, Ogaan, Carma, Ensemble, Shoppers Stop, Evoluzione, Elan Couture Fuel, Kala Niketan, Sosa's, Kimaya, Ffolio, Elahe, Zenon, Samsaara, Mogra, and AZA. "WLIFW will provide a platform to facilitate the development of trade opportunities for both buyers and designers, thus promoting Indian fashion in its entirety. Our primary objective is to promote the Business of Fashion. We are presenting designers who are not only established, but have back-end production facilities to ensure consistency in quality and delivery schedules to carry business forward," said Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI)'s director general Rathi Vinay Jha.

Though India Fashion Week, organised under the aegis of FDCI, is six years old, it is for the first time that FDCI is organising it without the involvement of Lakme, its title sponsor and IMG, its event manager for six years. This prompted both Lakme and IMG to join hands and come out with the Lakme Fashion Week, which concluded in Mumbai recently.