Fashion Fever

Fashion is no longer a glamour hobby, it has rather become a serious career option for the North-Eastern youths.

Sandeep Banerjee

The first North East Fashion Week was held in Guwahati from 25th to 27th of April, 2008. The same was organized by North East Institute of Fashion Technology (NEIFT) which has today become the premier institute in the region for grooming aspiring students of make a cut in the fashion world. The three-day event was sponsored and presented by AIRTEL and supported by Silk Mark, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India and the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). Vikram Rai Medhi, a big name in the fashion scene of the North-East and the CEO of NEIFT was himself the event director of the fashion week.

The event gave a unique platform to big names in Fashion designing as well as young budding designers from NEIFT to showcase huge variety of clothes design. “This is the first year. The child has just taken birth. The motive is to get industry status for fashion designing. Different designers have come together in one platform. There have been healthy exchanges of views and ideas in the three-day event that will give a big boost to the quality of creations coming out from the region. The other big motive to organize this fashion week is to market the fashion products coming out of the region. Silk received a big thrust in this fashion week. The event was not only supported by Silk Mark but they also participated in the event in a big way. The exhibition features quality silk products from Silk Mark as also products from our own handloom industry. We are striving to also bring up the beautiful products of our handloom industry…give them proper exposure and market them. The first NE fashion week was a small step keeping all these motives in mind. It has been a humble beginning. With time and every passing year, I am sure this event will grow in stature and magnitude,” said Vikram Rai Medhi.

The fashion week and the accompanied exhibition at the venue was inaugurated by K. S. Menon, CEO of Silk Mark organization under Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, along with B. Deb, Director of Handloom & Textiles, BTC and J. L. Chowdhury, Deputy CEO, KVIC.

The first day saw big names like Meghna Rai Medhi, noted designer from this region and Dipankar Kashyap display their creations. On the second day there was a seminar on ‘Silk of North-East and the role of Silk Mark in its growth” that again saw the participation of K. S. Menon, B. Deb, J. L. Chowdhury along with D. K. Sharma, the secretary of North East Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NECCI) and some noted designers like Kunal Kaushik of Assam. Kunal Kaushik also returned in the evening to steal the thunder by his wonderful show named ‘Woven Mystique’ in which he blended the traditional costumes of the North-East with modern day styles to create a fascinating dress fusion. Other talented designers like Anusmita Borgohain and Julie Sarmah (both from Assam) and Sangboihi from Mizoram also featured in the evening highlighting a plethora of fabrics cut in a wide range of innovative eye catching designs. Sangboihi in particular received much accolades for her presentation named Diversion.

The last day saw 21 students from NEIFT drawn from different North-Eastern states (there were eight from Assam, six from Nagaland, four from Mizoram, one from Arunachal and two from Manipur) presenting their creations with a distinct emphasis on the handloom of the North-East. The final show of the same evening and the first NE fashion week was presented by Meghna Rai Medhi who is the first designer from the North-East to be featured in Femina and have dressed the likes of Aishwarya Rai, Celina Jaitely, Koena Mitra, Diana Hayden, Bipasha Basu and other top socialites of the country. Meghna presented her spring summer collection having an Indo-Western look in peach pink and vibrant shades of orange. There was also a separate collection of beautiful Asomiya Mekhala Chadors and sarees. Meghna Rai Medhi was also the fashion choreographer of the entire NE fashion week.

 During the fashion week Bodo handloom got impetus. Leading North-Eastener designers  like Anju Borgohain, Megna Rai Medhi,  Ashish Chanda, Hemanta Adhikari and Dipankar Kashyap displayed work in Bodo handloom and silk.

 “Local fabrics including silk will help future designers have an edge over others. Fashion has a competitive market and they need to excel. Hand woven fabrics from the North-East are gaining in popularity every where. We asked our students who got an opportunity the showcase their designs at the NE Fashion Week to make optimum use of the hand woven fabrics of the region. But at the same time they were also free to experiment with other fabrics and unleash their creativity.’’ , said Vikram Rai Medhi.

 Apart from three models from Russia,  Miss India Pacific Shonal Rawat and Miss Mauritius, Viveka Babaji walked the ramp at the NE Fashion Week.

  On the second day in the seminar on Silk, the discussions led to suggestions on how the future designers can put the idea of importance of silk production and use it at the grassroot level to stop duplicates, which is a threat to North-Eastern sericulture Industry.

Kunal Kaushik speaks

“I am trying a fusion of all North-Eastern fabrics drawn from Bodo, Naga, Mizo, Rabha and Manipur areas. The hand-woven and ethnic fabric of our region has a unique identity and has tremendous potential but due to lack of support our traditional fabrics are dying a slow death. Modernity and western outfits are fine but we must not lose our fantastic traditional fabrics. So the need of the hour is to revive traditional fabrics by giving it a modern touch and making it attractive. The marketing part is also very much important. Here is where an event like the NE fashion week becomes so important. Some people tend to look down at these events as mere exhibitions. But actually here is where business happens. Weavers of the region will perish until they don’t get market…shows like these will provide right market to our fabrics,” he said.

“Attitude towards fashion have changed”: Meghna

“The concept of a North East Fashion Week was always there in my and Vikram’s mind. Only that it took some time to give shape to an event of this magnitude. But with the first  edition having been successfully organised this year, it will now surely become an annual event. For long we have been just talking of giving exposure to the designers and the models of this region.....we felt that the time has  come now to go beyond  mere talking  by doing something concrete in  this area. The North East Fashion Week was borne out of this thinking.  Under one roof people could find out  the worth of the leading as well as the upcoming designers of the region. In fact Vikram and me are even thinking ahead.....of  setting up a mall where all such designers will be provided racks who cannot afford to have a store of their own at the present moment....however, this project will take some time to materialise.’’

“When we started it was very difficult to procure materials. But now it has become lot easier for the present generation of  designers with far greater reach and easier access. Also the mindset of the people towards fashion has changed with the coming of all big brands and designer stuff at their very doorstep. Big names like Ritu Kumar and Satya Paul have come to Guwahati. There are now Pantaloons and Levis showrooms. Siiting here people can purchase Rocky S creations. This atmosphere is very conducive to the present designers and the upcoming ones to also market their products.’’

 “The select batch of students that we have in NEIFT are a very talented bunch.They only need proper exposure of their work. So we encourage them to hold as many shows as possible to reach out to the public. We want them to unleash their creativity and judge for themselves how the audience reacts to their designs. The main thing is the art of presentation. If if you have designed just a single dress but know the art to present it properly , then the job might get done. However , we warn our students not to go overboard from the very beginning in trying to open themselves up but rather expose their creativity in a slow and steady manner. Most of the times we do not even charge the tailoring cost for the dresses designed by our students...however, there are some who are doing it totally on their own.’’

 “I will take the NE models to be of extremely good quality today and they are very hard working . The modelling scene has also undergone a sea change from when we started. During our earlier days we use to literally stop a tall and good looking girl in the middle of the road and coerce her to model for us. But the NE now boasts of  a huge pool of wonderful models at par with the very best in the country.We are now even getting tall and very tall wonderful models from within the NE.......although herein I must say that I do not give too much attention to the height...it is the total persona , charm and presentation that matters   In the NE Fashion Week all the male models were from Guwahati while the girls were drawn from all over the North-East. They matched steps and elegance with the hyped Russian models as well as big names like Viveka Babaji and Shonal Rawat.’’

 “Style and Fashion is something that comes from within. The conception and attitude towards style has also undergone a sea change. Today even parents come to us and say that their girls can be easily clothed in a kind of fashionable dress which till some times back could have been outrightly labelled as vulgar. But when I say this, I feel that all designers as well as models must know and understand the line that separates the fashionable from the obscene.’’

 “I am satisfied with my journey so far and what I have achived but there is always the urge and strive to do and achieve more. My store ‘Meghnas’ is doing very well and I have a very good clientele... ladies who have total faith in me and how I cloth them. I want every woman from this region to take at least one dress from me                (laughs). I have just started my male line....it started with a programme in a local channel whose costume I am doing.’’

 “Our tie up with BTC in the North East Fashion Week was spontaneous.  I have been working with Bodo fabric for quite some time now. I have some very fashion conscious Bodo women as my client. The Bodo fabric is very fascinating and I have designed previously outfits by giving a modern outlook to their traditional fabric. The Bodo weavers are also experts and they dominate the weaving scene of Assam. So Viram and I thought to give a more concrete shape to the relationshipi by involving the BTC in the Fashion Week , a proposal to which they readily agreed. We bought all the materials from Kokrajhar for the Bodo attires.’’

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