Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) Premier fashion organisation, Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) has beaten recession blues by having as many as 13 commercial partners and 103 participating designers for the upcoming Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) to be held March 18-23.
Compared to last year’s spring-summer edition when it had 10 commercial partners and 79 designers, this time WIFW managed to attract three new partners and some established fashion designers as well.

The new addition to the list include designers Anamika Khanna, Raghavendra Rathore, Rocky S, Manish Malhotra, Priyadarshani Rao, Puja Nayyar and many more.

“We do not believe in the term recession. With our commercial partners giving us continuous support, we have beaten the recession blues and are all geared up for this complete business-to-business event,” FDCI’s president Sunil Sethi told IANS at a press conference Tuesday.

“We complete our 10 years in November and today we are celebrating it because the event is getting bigger and better day by day,” he added.

Other than the title sponsor Wills Lifestyle, the other brands associated with the event this time around as associated sponsors are Fiama Di Wills, Hewlett Packard, Chivas, Audi, Elle, NDTV Good Times, Big FM, Intercontinental Eros, Yahoo, Kingfisher, Power Plate and Fedex.

Speaking on the occasion, ITC Lifestyle retailing divisional chief executive Atul Chand said: “There is beautiful synergy between the organisers and us and due to this, WIFW is scaling new heights edition after edition.”

“The kind of participation we are seeing from all other commercial partners just makes one thing clear. That the event has grown from strength to strength,” he added.

IT major Hewlett Packard’s head of consumer marketing Shubhodip Pal said: “Carrying forward our philosophy of ‘The computer is personal again’ and with a keen eye on style, trends and technology, our products are tailored to address the lifestyle conscious consumers.”

“Our continuous association with the fashion fraternity both in the domestic and international arena vouches for our commitment towards adding oomph to technology,” he added.

International automobile maker Audi too is a major partner for the event and according to Audi India’s managing director Benoit Tier, the style and impeccable designs of the cars go well with the fashion week.

“Audi has a strong connection and competence in style and design worldwide. Our association with the fashion week gives us a platform to blend luxury with fashion,” Tier said.

“We are hopeful of putting up a good show together and you will surely see the synergy,” he added.