The ramp seems set for the "original" India Fashion Week. With the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week declaring its supporters, the designer war of the "poses" has only just begun. Announcing the biggest superstars of the fashion industry, the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) has 80 designers.

From established names like Ritu Kumar and Tarun Tahiliani, there are also "new faces going places'' like Sidhartha Tytler, Sucheta Merh, Gaurav Gupta, Puja Arya, Karuna Khaitan and Jatin Varma. The fashion week will be held in the Capital from April 5 at its usual place.

"We have brought together on a single platform India's biggest names in the fashion and the creative arena. We have had a fabulous response and the number of designers participating this year is greater than ever before. These designers come from all over India -- Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur and Jodhpur," said FDCI Director-General Rathi Vinay Jha at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday.

The other names that have signed up with this fashion week are Manish Arora, Jattinn Kochhar, J. J. Vallaya, Meera Muzaffar Ali, Ashima Leena, Ranna Gill, Raghuvendra Rathore and Varun Behl.

Like in all wars, the supporters have to pledge their allegiance to the cause. And giving his own reasons to join the "official" fashion week of the country, fashion designer Rohit Gandhi said: "It is the only fashion week that the country has and I choose to participate in India's only fashion week and not any other fashion carnival."

While the supporters of Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week are out to walk the ramp for serious fashion, the designers who have sided with the Lakme version of this show in Mumbai will probably have a great reason for not joining the "official" cause. -- Mandira Nayar

(www.hindu.com)