No Show

The opening day of a fashion week is usually marked by some amount of teething trouble,which is probably why when the first show of the day at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week was delayed by an hour on Wednesday,it hardly raised eyebrows. Things came to a pitch later,when the bouncers outside the main show area broke the news that the show would probably have to be rescheduled.The reason: Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) had not obtained a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Delhi Police for fire safety at the venue at National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) exhibition. Incidentally,this is the first time that the fashion week is being hosted at NSIC. For the last few seasons it had taken place at Pragati Maidan at ITO. The venue had to be changed this year since Pragati Maidan was not available because of ongoing renovations ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

Even as FDCI officials were unavailable for comment,designers and models at the venue seemed to be in the dark about the state of affairs. “I have no clue as to what’s going on. I was backstage getting the models ready for my show when I was told that it’s been indefinitely postponed. I have been waiting since for some information to come,” a visibly distraught Nida Mahmood said. The designer,who was scheduled to open the WIFW with her show at noon had received no intimation till 4 pm about the status of her show.

As many as 12 designers were slated to showcase on day one,including big names like Ranna Gill,JJ Valaya,Ritu Beri and Satya Paul. Most of the designers were seen waiting for some information to come in about the status of the shows. “Since I have no information about what’s going on,we have decided to not host a show this evening. Once we get an appraisal of the situation we’ll try and see if we can work out alternatives. As of now,our show stands cancelled,” declared Puneet Nanda of Satya Paul,whose show was pegged at 5.40 pm this evening.

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For outstation designers like Rahul Mishra,who has come down from Mumbai for his second season at WIFW,the lack of information complicated matters further. “I had invited a large number of guests for my show,many of whom have flown down from Mumbai. I am wondering what to tell them,” he said. His wife Divya left the venue with some of the guests soon after.

Senior designer Namrata Joshipura sounded sympathetic with the plight of her colleagues. “It is bad for young designers,especially for the outstation ones. If my show was slotted for the first day,and things were going haywire,I would have been very disturbed. I am hoping FDCI will come up with a concrete solution to the problem,” she said. We are waiting.