Too many fashion weeks confuse buyers: Sabyasachi

KOLKATA - Well-known fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee feels India should have only one Fashion Week as too many such events dilute the concept and confuse buyers.

City boy Mukherjee, who has stayed away from the ongoing Kolkata Fashion Week-II, told IANS: “I am not into any event which does not have the proper logistical support and confidence of the buyers.”

The 35-year old Mukherjee, regarded as the biggest name in the fashion world from this part of the country, had skipped the first edition of the KFW, held this April.

“I am not a big supporter of too many fashion weeks. If I support the KFW then what wrong have the others done? I think one is better than 20,” Mukherjee said on phone from Goa, where he is busy designing clothes for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film “Guzarish”.

Mukherjee also referred to the commercial angle to buttress his point. “In India we do not have as many buyers. If there are too many fashion weeks the concept will be diluted and it will also confuse the buyers,” said the graduate of the National Institute of Fashion Designing in Kolkata.

Mukherjee said he is generally keeping off fashion shows this year and concentrating more on films.

“Apart from Sanjay’s film, I am working for Mani Ratnam’s ‘Ravana’ and R. Balakrishan’s (Balki’s) ‘Pa’.” He had designed the costumes for Bhansali’s “Black” (2005), “Babul” (2006), and “Laaga Chunari Mein Daag” (2007).

However, he would give a small presentation on 10 years of Indian fashion at the Lakme fashion event in Mumbai Sep 18. “All fashion designers have been invited. I am also busy preparing for that.”

In 2004, Mukherjee became the first Indian designer invited to showcase at the Milan Fashion Week and was also voted by Asia Inc, a Singapore based business magazine, as one of the 10 most influential Indians in Asia.

One of the most admired Asian fashion designers in the West, Mukherjee said though he had never been the victim of any racial discrimination it “was a fact” that these countries promoted home-spun designers.

“Just as we would like to project Indian designers, similarly, the West tries to project their own designers. This is logical. When these clothes get to the stores, say in America, they are cheaper because these garments have no customs duty.”

“In contrast, when my clothes go to these stores they are expensive because customs duty and related taxes have to be paid. So the stores favour American designers. This is business logic.”

Asked about his plans for 2010, Mukherjee replied: “I will then again start doing shows.”