United colours of fashion

Reunions, comebacks and tie-ups, the Indian fash frat witnessed a whole lot of action in 2009.

Reunions, comebacks and tie-ups, the Indian fash frat witnessed a whole lot of action in 2009

1. Fashion Design Promotion Council, set up by the Ministry of Textiles, worked hard to bring together two fashion bodies — the Fashion Design Council of India and Fashion Foundation of India. After months of arguments, discussions and several rounds of meetings, the two majors finally came together towards the end of 2009. The fashion fraternity united again, and just in time for the autumn/winter season. There was a collective sigh of relief when DFW head Sumeet Nair said, “Just one fashion week is happening.”

2. Designer Ritu Beri returned to an Indian fashion week after 10 years at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week. Bollywood actor Abhay Deol walked for Beri.

3. The king of drapes, Tarun Tahiliani, ensured he grabbed enough eyeballs with his diamond encrusted lehengas when he designed the wedding trousseau for the much talked about Shilpa Shetty-Raj Kundra wedding.

4. Men finally had their day too! FDCI organised the first-ever Van Huesen Men’s Fashion Week in Delhi. HDIL Couture Week in Mumbai was another first.

5. Fashion Weeks completed 10 glamorous years in India. What started with a Fashion Design Council of India and Lakme-association in 1999 split into two fashion weeks — WIFW in Delhi and LFW in Mumbai — five years later. But after a decade, Lakme decided to pay a tribute to ‘one decade of fashion in India’ in its grand autumn/winter 2009 edition.