AICW not just about celebrity quotient

The stage is set for the launch of the Amazon India Couture Week (AICW) 2015, a five-day fashion event, which will showcase a wide array of collections from designers through 11 shows which started on Wednesday.

Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) president Sunil Sethi says the event doesn't just have a celebrity quotient, but always generates business.

The event will have Kangana Ranaut as the showstopper for Manav Gangwani, Richa Chadha for Reynu Taandon while Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be walking the ramp after five years for ace designer Manish Malhotra at the gala's finale.

"This is the best event in the country not because of the celebrity quotient which comes with it, but because of the business that it gives," Sethi said. "All my designers and the clothes are actually the showstoppers and the stars in the couture Week. They have been working for months for the preparation.

It's not like pret where they are taking just a month for the collection. It takes three to four months of dedicated hard work. "It has quality more than quantity... It is not an easy job to make couture," he added. Saying that "customers have evolved now", Sethi highlighted the shift in the design trends over the years.

"Customers are evolved now. There was no red carpet in the past, nobody was wearing gowns in weddings. Only in two or three colours, but that's it. Look at the colour experimentation, patchwork, different embroidery and silhouette. This type of variety for different occasions are seeing a change now," he added.

He also said that in the past, people didn't understand the term couture, but now the landscape is changing as people are trying to experiment with new designs. "In the past, people didn't understand couture. I am still saying that we may not be as pure as the term goes in Paris and Milan, but this is the reality that in India there is a lot of celebration.

"When you say bridal, you think of lehenga but when you wait and see, you see a huge transformation. Now at every cocktail and reception, people don't want to wear traditional Indian wear. That is what couture is offering them. Couture is made especially for someone. This is something that you wear on occasion," he said.

Pointing out at why couture is often understood as bridal wear in India, he said: "In India since weddings are very big, our couture is used there also and now look at the experiments in the traditional lehenga.

There was a time when only three colours were used - maroon, red and pink and may be green sometimes. So, frankly of course I will say that some of our products may be for bridal market, but it is still made especially for that so we are still calling it couture."