The Pune Fashion Week will kick off on January 15

Pune Mirror: Pune has everything going for it — a thriving education centre, a rapidly growing IT industry, a pulsing cultural hub  and great climate.

Of course, we have fashion sense too, but somehow with our proximity to Mumbai, it thrived in the underbelly of the city and then those who were ‘ready’, were exported to the runways of Mumbai and Delhi.

In an attempt to change this, which means to legitimise Pune as a ‘fashion capital’, a Pune Fashion Week is on the cards this month.

N’igma Production House will launch the Pune Fashion Week 2010 on January 15 to put Pune on the fashion map. Officially.

Till date we heard of other fashion weeks, but this effort is being made to bridge the gap between the fashion-conscious Puneites and fashion itself.

Even though the city has talent, Pune has not been recognised as a fashion capital, or for that matter even a fashion city.

Satyajit Joglekar and Fazal Sayyad of N’igma Production House got together the right blend of peripherals of the fashion industry like designers, models, make-up artists, stylists and sponsors to make this dream a reality.

“This move hopes not only to give city designers a platform to exhibit and showcase their creativity, make people aware of the fashion world, but also identify probable buyers and help them see intricacies of works they intend to buy. “Right now, the whole team is great,” says Joglekar.

“Our magazine partner is Femina, official radio partner is Radiomirchi, make up is by Biomarine, inner stylist is Chandrakala Sanap and the title sponsor is Audi.

The Westin, Pune’s newest 5-star makes a perfect venue for a fashion week. Event dynamics have been taken care of by a team in Mumbai. Vikram Phadnis, who is part of the fashion week was a big help.

Our fashion partner, Iris, has gone out of its way to help us out. They have lot of designers who are awesome,”  he adds.

“As soon as the idea was brought to the fore, it was well appreciated by the Pune crowd. Being a city fashion week, it has a lot of ‘Pune’ everywhere.

The fashion week will bring about a huge revolution in the fashion-conscious sense. People will start identifying seasons the way other countries recognise them,” Joglekar says.

The team has big plans. They  want to create a brand which is Pune’s own and hope that this fashion week will provide a common platform to those who want to be recognised by the fashion-conscious Puneites.

The team is expecting a lot of criticism, which they say is welcome as it will be constructive. However, they have a suggestion — do not to react unless you’ve seen it.

“An element of culture is also essential and is incorporated although the organisers are more than willing to add more people on board to have a more culture-oriented blend,” Joglekar says.

However, whatever the organisers say, not all of Pune is hoppping around with glee at the idea. Many feel that the city is not quite ready for a fashion week.

When we asked India’s first supermodel, who should ideally have been most thrilled and cued in on the Pune fashion what we could expect from what we should be prepared to see, she answered with a simple, “I have no clue!” But they may not be completely off.

After all any fashion week revolves not around models and the ‘fashion show’ but the bottom line — who is going to buy? And whether Puneites are going to ditch their city shopping haunts and get ready to splurge on designer wear, we’ll find out only after the runway is clear and sale figures come out.

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Also see:

• January 15, 2010 -- The city is all set to get its ‘fashion capital’ status (0)