Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 25 (IANS) Flamboyant designer Rohit Bal doesn’t seem to be happy with the list of designers selected to participate in the inaugural Pearls Delhi Couture Week (PDCW) starting here July 20.
“There is a pretty much good selection of designers for the event barring a few, which I don’t think should be a part of the couture week,” Bal, who will be back in action after a massive heart attack four months ago, told IANS.

“Given a chance, I would have chosen just six designers for the event but now we have 13. I guess you can’t always do it your way. Anyways, I am doing an off-site show, so I won’t be a part of the ‘jhund’ (herd),” he added

The five-day event will take place at the Grand Hotel in Vasant Kunj. The likes of Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, Anamika Khanna, Manish Malhotra, Gaurav Gupta, JJ Valaya, Manav Gangwani, Pallavi Jaikishan, Raakesh Agarvwal, Rina Dhaka, Rohit Bal, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Suneet Varma and Varun Bahl will showcase their designs at the event.

Bal, known as the master of fabric, showcased his designs at the first edition of the Mumbai couture week in 2008 and is happy that the event is now coming to the capital.

“The time is very much appropriate for the Delhi people. Here you have incredible numbers of weddings and people like to wear good stuff, so having an event like this is a wonderful idea,” said Bal, who is looking leaner nowadays.

Post the heart attack in February, Bal has shed 14 kgs. “I am on a very strict diet regime,” he explained.

Organised by the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), PDCW is the second of its kind in India. FDCI has been orgainising the HDIL India Couture Week for the past two years, which has been a massive success.

Looking at Delhi’s market potential, FDCI decided to give the capital it’s own couture week.

“Looking at the fashion scene in the capital, we though it was the right time to cash in on it,” FDCI president Sunil Sethi explained of the event.