It’s Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) vs Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) all over again. The two “rival” fashion weeks have been fighting it out for supremacy since several seasons now, but this season has been kind of amusing for us.
Consider this: LFW was scheduled to hold a press conference last week to announce their designer list for Lakme Fashion Week Summer Resort 2011 (starts March 11). And lo, WIFW announced their designers on the same day (even though their event kicks off April 6). Cheeky!
Designer Overlap
As I scrolled through the LFW designer list, my heart skipped a beat as I spotted Sabyasachi Mukherjee. He had just been announced as the finale designer for WIFW!
It’s not uncommon for designers to present their collections at both these fashion weeks (examples from last season: Anupama Dayal, Anita Dongre, Manish Arora), but the finale designer of one fashion week also participating in another seems kinda strange to me.
What People Say
I met an Austrian guy from the textile industry the other day. He visits India often, and is quite tuned into the fashion/ textiles/ art scene here. He reported to me what he had heard about the Delhi (WIFW) and Mumbai (LFW) fashion weeks: “Buyers tell me that the Mumbai fashion week has better quality, while there are more sales happening at Delhi fashion week.” While we can’t confirm this (yet), it could be true.
Digital Divide
Also, point to note: LFW is going all out to reach as many fashion lovers as possible. After tying up with Style Kandy last year for live webcasts, this season all shows will be streamed live on the official LFW website. On the other hand: WIFW doesn’t even have a dedicated website (it runs on the FDCI website).
Now what?
Meanwhile, both fashion weeks this season have a formidable line-up of designers. Other than the obvious question (who will win the Fashion Weeks Battle?), we are wondering: how different will Sabysachi’s two collections be? Will he recycle looks and outfits, or will he have a more spectacular show in Delhi than in Mumbai?
I just think its kinda of ridiculous to have 2 fashion weeks in the first place. Its an overkill
@Mehak– Going by the sheer number of “self-proclaimed” designers in India, even 20 fashion weeks wouldn’t be enough. 😉 But I get your point– let’s focus on quality than quantity!