After a lull, the season of fashion weeks is set to begin. In its 2nd season, Asian Premier London Fashion Week (APLFW) is set to take place from 1st-3rd August at Porchester Hall, London this year. SK speaks with the organiser and choreographer to learn more…
Organizer D.K. Agarwal, Director, Idea Weavers is looking forward to the second edition of this event. “The main purpose of the fashion week is to create awareness of Indian designers in London. Very few Indian designers get the opportunity to present at London Fashion Week. We created this event to promote Indian talent in the U.K and help them tap the U.K market,” he says.
The response has been extremely positive with leading Indian designers having sent applications for participation so far. Applications from designers in Pakistan and Sri Lanka have also been received. Designers like Narendra Kumar Ahmed, Archana Kochar, Neeta Lulla, Vikram Phadnis and Anjana Bhargava are all assisting the organizers with the selection for designers for the 2nd season of APLFW.
The event had 36 designers participate and there were 6 shows a day with 18 shows in total last year. Most shows had an audience of 150-200 in attendance while the highest audience attendance for a show was 350.
“Last time we could not target too many buyers. This was because designers confirmed at the last minute last year. Thus, we could not send designer profiles with their details to the buyers in advance. Buyers in the U.K. are very organized and like to know about designers before they can come to see their work. This year we want to send designer details to the buyers well in advance. There are about a 1000 boutiques in London that stock clothes from Indian designers so the market for Indian designs exists. London Fashion Week is in September, so buyers will be geared up for all fashion weeks,” adds D.K.
Liza Varma will be the choreographer for this fashion week. “The organisers choose Indian show choreographers because we understand how Indian designers work. I usually travel with my DJ and backstage manager. The rest of the production team will be from London. While designers work on the concepts for their clothes for 2-3 months, choreographers are only told about the designers’ concepts 10-15 days before the event. That’s when we work on the music, stage and makeup concepts. We will be taking 4-5 middle level models like Lekha Raman and Ankita Jain from India and the rest will be from London. Popular models tend to charge a lot and it will become too expensive to include them in a show,” she says.