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Models Kunal Rawal and Acquin Paes with the Mahindra Rodeo at the Lakme Fashion Week.

S. Shanker

Mumbai, Sept 17 The ramp is not all about aspiring models and designers trying to make the centre stage. Corporates too are making a beeline for the lights, cameras and style shows, confident of drawing that bit an extra mileage from the fashion world.

The sponsors’ list of Lakme Fashion Week (LFW), which begins here on September 18, boasts of names such as Mahindras, Philips, real estate developer Samira Habitats, Skoda and DHL (Logistics) .

The import of the event can also be gauged from the fact that the British Airways’ latest TV campaign, filmed in India, features LFW with a backdrop of Mumbai’s fabric and pulse.

With consumers increasingly inclined towards a trendy lifestyle, corporates find that it makes sense to latch on to events that showcase the best of designer talent (both aspiring and established) to global buyers.

Mr Anil Chopra, Advisor, Hindustan Unilever, says the main players of a fashion week are buyers as well as designers who want to reach out to the buyers and, through the media, eventually to the customers. Over the years, lifestyles have changed and people are looking for aspirational products and brands . And, as he puts it, fashion is also about lifestyle, precision, colour and style.

LFW is a platform from where the Mahindras are confident of taking power and style directly to consumers.

The event will showcase style and design that are strongly fused into its recent products, says the Vice-President, Mahindra Two Wheelers, Mr Devendra Shinde. “We, at Mahindra Two Wheelers, have always believed in providing products that are benchmarked against the best. The style, sophistication, power and design of the feature-packed Mahindra Rodeo is complemented with a distinct macho demeanour and Kunal Rawal (the designer) will bring alive this persona of the Indian male in his collection,” he says.

“Our ethos is to deliver technically the most advanced, functionally the soundest and aesthetically the most stylish products to our consumers. The Lakmé Fashion Week, representing the best and the latest in design, matches with our brand proposition of ‘Sense and Simplicity’,” says the Chief Marketing Officer, Philips Electronics India, Mr Vivek Sharma.

The event would provide a unique platform to showcase a marriage of fashion and technology. Like their fashion counterparts, designers at Philips also bring style into the home through lifestyle products, he adds.

Participation in the event fits perfectly with realty developer Samira Habitats’ vision of premium and exclusive lifestyle. “It is a quest to go beyond the ordinary, complemented by creative design style and finish,” says the Executive Director (Projects), Samira Habitats, Mr Mihir Nerurkar.

Designer inputs, he says, could range from detailed and accessorising to theme-based and the unexpected. Creativity-infused subjects are best left to imagination, he adds.

Has the slowdown left the ramp unscathed? Prints are more and embroidery is less this year, says Mr Chopra while summing up the mood.

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