If it's wool, it's got to be Woolmark. At least that's what they claimed at the International Wool Secretariat-backed Woolmark Show '98 at the Hyatt Regency. But their other claim, that Woolmark-tagged garments add up to a pile five-and-a-half times higher than Mount Everest, sounds incredible. So is the show where they collections of mass-market (read value-for-money) sweaters, shawls and woollies with unfailing regularity, year after year.Most of the stuff displayed on our reed-thin, but feisty girls was no great shakes, but the show-stealers certainly were the kids it was Children's Day, you know who, with enviable spunk, modelled (toddled?) children's sweaters by Greatways. Among the other big names that came together under the Woolmark banner were Monte Carlo, Park Avenue and Oswal.Park Avenue presented a range of crisp woollen trouser-fabric for men (sheathed on models who looked like they were having a bit of an on-ramp ball Rahul Dev and Inder Rivolta Sudan, in particular, couldn't quite wipe the grins off their faces as they swirled and twirled).Shawls finely embroidered, printed or in jacquard made for elegant drapes, coordinated with silk salwar-kameez suits and saris. The sweaters, however, were a disappointment. Every year, the same, we've-seen-it-before cardigans and pullovers are pulled out, with no innovations in motifs, colours or cuts. Add to that the half-baked display of lightweight, gaily-patterned and supposedly trendy knits for youngsters, and it's easy to believe that the woolly world's still fuzzy about what's cool in wool.The ready-to-wear evening formals for men and women (presented by co-sponsor Euphoria Formals/Samtex Fashions), though, did add a designer dash to the evening. There was a range of well-cut jackets, trousers, suits, skirts and vests (co-ordinates and separates), designed, or so Euphoria representatives hope, to ``conquer new heights in the fashion world''.And while the itsy-bitsy swinging skirts on the ramp drew those inevitable catcalls, the dealer-client audience, stuffed into dinner tables inside an unusually cramped Hyatt Ballroom, quietly sat through Rashmi Virmani's chor-eography for most of the nine-odd sequences. And now that the sweater-show is over, and summer's finally faded out to what (Woolmark hopes) will be a really cold winter, everyone's going to be sporting a Woolmark-supported brand. Unless, of course, you prefer mother's knit-and-purl pieces.
