Musical chairs as designers defect

First they were swearing loyalty. Now they are ‘exploring new avenues’ and designers are switching between rival fashion bodies. Kirti Mehta tells more..

First they were in this group, swearing loyalty. Now they are in that group, ‘exploring new avenues’. Designers are switching between rival fashion bodies just days ahead of competing fashion weeks in Delhi.

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So far, HT City has been given the names of three defecting designers, who are leaving Delhi Fashion Week (organised by the Fashion Foundation of India) to be at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (organised by the Fashion Design Council of India). Sunil Sethi of FDCI tells us, “Rajvi Mohan, Priyadarshni Rao and Anamika Khanna are the new entrants to our fashion week, and though Anamika just has a stall, she is a part of this, too.”

There were confirmed reports of Raghavendra Rathore, Varun Sardana and Gaurav Gupta also returning to FDCI.

While unaware of the entire list of names, Sumeet Nair of FFI says he does have a fair idea of who are about to quit the camp. “It’s their wish if they want to showcase on another platform,” says Nair tersely. “Our fashion week is by invitation, for those whom the jury selects.”

What about reverse defection, i.e. designers coming over to DFW from WIFW? “We do not believe in poaching and we don’t encourage defections,” says Nair. “Even Manish Arora has moved to the Fashion and Design Promotion Council but nobody reports that.” Arora replies, “I am a member of FDCI and also FDPC. This year, they are hosting WIFW as one entity. Naturally, I’m there.”

Mohan calls her move plain business sense. “All trade platforms are very important for me. At WIFW, I look forward to new avenues.”