Indian alternative to global fashion?

The big debate at the sixth annual LIFW is whether India can harness its ancient textiles heritage, mould it to contemporary sensibilities and find a place for tradition amid the push and shove of global apparel business.

Is India on its way to providing an alternative model to the West-defined global fashion industry?

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The big debate at the sixth annual Lakme India Fashion Week, on till April 26, is whether India can harness its ancient textiles heritage, mould it to contemporary sensibilities and find a place for tradition amid the push and shove of global apparel business.

"We always talk of India following the world but have you ever thought of the world emulating us?" asked Gautam Singhania, head of the world textile giant Raymond that supplies fabric to labels like, among others, Mango and Zara.

"The textile industry, from denim to everything else, is definitely shifting east - the future is here."

In many ways, India's nascent fashion industry is breaking Western norms and trends. It makes maximum money from ethnic clothes (what would be called 'costume' in Europe and the US), at a time when couture is virtually dead in the West, most Indian designers make their money from couture, namely trousseau for the $1 billion wedding market and, in the age of the corporate and mass manufacture, Indian fashion is trying to save its glorious handicrafts tradition.

"India should not go the Western way," said Jason Broderick, buyer for British swank store Harrods. "No one is looking to India to provide what's already there. What we want is a distinctive new voice."

That is a voice India is endeavouring to provide as it juggles between an urge to cater to a wider global audience and protecting a home turf of ever growing millions of customers.

"We need to do what we do best," said designer Anamika Khanna who has just sold her collection to Harrods. "We cannot compete on someone else's terms, we have to compete on our own. Our strengths are unique and so are our challenges."

It's a bit like what Japanese designers like Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo (Comme des Garcons) once did - they took tradition, gave it a unique twist and presented it to the world.

"There is a unique opportunity and a grave threat," said Ritu Kumar, for 40 years the doyenne of Indian fashion. "With the world looking at us, we have a chance to present our unique heritage.

"But in the global market, the threat is - are we going to get swallowed?"

Getting bought out is not per se a bad thing but many designers fear that their labels would lose their unique touch if they pass to conglomerates insensitive to traditions and cultures.

Or worse, get phased out.

But others like retail honcho Pradeep Hirani of Kimaya are more optimistic. "I don't think Indian labels would be bought by foreign groups and then be phased out. In fact, they would probably be given direction and steady focus," said Hirani.

There are some who believe India does not need the West at all. "Look at the figures of our markets here - they are enormous," said Faiza Samee, neighbour Pakistan's best-known designer.

"Why should we be so enamoured with the West which really often does not understand our sensibilities or our clothes?"

The greatest demand for Indian clothes comes from the subcontinent, where economic liberalisation has meant more disposable income than ever for a burgeoning middle- and upper-middle class.

Then there is a moneyed Gulf market where Indian clothes are lapped up by oil-rich sheikhs. "More people want to wear Indian clothes than ever before," said Salah Duaij Al-Sabah of Kuwait's Moda-In, who brings one of the biggest budgets to the fashion week.

"The West will come, there is no hurry."