A peek into a rich designer heritage

The ‘Gitanjali Prasad Bidapa Fashion Week Bangalore’ will be held at the Bowring Institute from January 18 to 20.  This was announced by fashion guru Prasad Bidapa recently.

Showcasing the works of the best designers and brands of the City, it aims to capture the fashion history of Bangalore — from the days of royalty with Karnataka silk saris by the Royal House of Mysore to the modern day aesthetics and styles of the young and trendy.

“I’ve wanted to do this for the last 10 years. I always felt bad that after Delhi and Mumbai, Kolkata took third place as a centre in fashion with designers like Sabyasachi and Anamika. This is Bangalore’s turn to take its much deserved centre stage,” smiles Prasad, emphasising the need for local designers to push their products into national and international markets and present themselves in the perfect light.

Mehul Choksi, chairman of Gitanjali, expressed his gratitude to Prasad for giving them a chance to be a part of the celebrations of Bangalore’s rich designer heritage. He says, “The City has a vibrant cultural ethos and its emergence as an IT city has helped it become an important hub of the lifestyle industry in the South. Gitanjali has always had a strong presence here and we are happy to give back to the City.”

What is more impressive is Karnataka State Tourism supporting this initiative and promising to make this show an annual event on the tourism calendar for many years to come.

The curtain-raiser to the event saw the works of many of the participating designers — Sanchita, Mossimo, Nimirta, Jason and Anshu, House of Three, Anjali Sharma, Amanda Bachalli, Shalini Subramanian, Seema Malhotra, Avirate, Turquoise and Gold, Namrata G, Lokessh Ahuja, Deepika Govind, Samyakk and many others.

The garments will be accompanied by jewellery designed by the likes of C Krishniah Chetty and Sons, Pallavi Foley, Gitanjali and Rony Dutta.

A lot of thought and hard work has gone into the collections that will be spread across the three days and will be an absolute treat for the fashionistas. “My design is three-dimensional lace jewellery, which is very dramatic. Lace is one of the biggest trends right now. I’m working with various local jewellery crafts, which incorporates the Bangalore factor,” shares Pallavi Foley, whose jewellery will be paired with clothes by Turquoise and Gold.

For the fashion-conscious Bangaloreans who will attend the show, the trendiest collections by the designers will be there in full view. The City’s top models, including showstoppers like Indrani Das Gupta, Bruna Abdullah and Acquin Pais will be seen walking the ramp.