Lakme Fashion Week puts GenX talent at the forefront

The time is rife for youngsters to put their feet into the world of ever growing expanse of the Indian fashion industry. The upcoming Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) is testimony to the fact that the ramp will witness shows brimming with freshness as GenX is ready to take the show ahead. Pallavi Singh, Nakita Singh, Soumodeep Dutta, Ishanee Mukherjee & Anirudh Chawla, and Resham Karmchandani and Sanya Suri are the five names selected to showcase their creativity at the fashion week platform scheduled from Feb 1- 5 at JioGarden, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Mumbai.

For Resham and Sanya of the label The Pot Plant, every new start up in any industry is challenging and the same goes for fashion industry. They feel, it is rife with opportunities to present their designs to the right audience through the right channel. Sanya believes the fashion industry is more receptive now. There has been a paradigm shift in how people perceive labels. As an industry, it’s more open to new talent and individual design aesthetics. Experimental, minimal, or classic clothing, the realms are co-existing and it is more about individualism and what resonates with an individual.

Gen Next take the lead

Gen Next programme, which has given the Indian fashion industry names like Rahul Mishra, Masaba Gupta and Nachiket Barve, is now set to groom its 23rd batch with five promising designers who have been chosen by the members of the LFW advisory board. Anirudh and Ishanee of the label Poochki, being one of the young names, substantiate with the fact that there is no dearth of opportunities for young designers today. The fashion industry is flourishing over the years. Dedication and innovation is the key to success in this very competitive industry. And there is a change in the mindset of consumers. The modern-day consumer is an informed customer and is responsive to good design, and not only to ‘bling’ one can see prêt coming in a big way, points out Anirudh.

Nakita believes that every sphere needs consistency, patience, and hard work to make a space for oneself and the same goes for a young and emerging designer. Dutta, who is set to venture into the industry, young designers come out with a spirit of youth, creativity, and freedom and hence he feels that space is never there, you have to stretch boundaries and create your own space. Having said this competition has also multiplied. Today, fashion is a necessity. Customisation has created a need for more designers to cater to the huge population. Multi-designer stores also play an important role in supporting young designers who cannot start with a store of their own. The support nowadays is huge, you only need to arrive with your originality and innovation.