Arts Forward, an art management company, in association with Aircel, is organising a three-day fashion extravaganza, Signature Natural Mineral Water Northeast Fashion Weekend, at the Maniram Dewan Trade Centre in Guwahati from August 11.
The show will be preceded by two events, a model hunt and a designer hunt. The aim is to provide a platform for the fashion industry in the north-east both in the national and international arena.
The Bold and Beautiful Model Hunt will be held in Dimapur on July 31, in Shillong on August 3 and finally in Guwahati on August 5. The winners of this contest will get the opportunity to walk the ramp for top designers during the fashion weekend. The Emerging Designer Northeast contest will choose upcoming and talented designers from the region who will get to showcase their work at the weekend event. This contest will also be held at the three venues.
Announcing this at a news conference in Kolkata, the Chief Executive Officer of Arts Forward, Paramita Saha, said, “This fashion weekend is a first of its kind in the region.”
The mega fashion weekend will feature top and local designers like Ritu Kumar, Wendell Rodericks, Rina Dhaka and Nandini Baruwa. “The north-east has talent and we want to present this to world,” ace designer Ritu Kumar, who has a store in Guwahati, said. The show has also been able to tap established designers who have a Northeast link like Nagaland-born Atsu Sekhose and Assam-born Sanghamitra Phukan.
Sekhose, who was recently profiled by Elle magazine as `India’s rising star in the field of fashion`, will also present his designs, which he says would be a mix of textiles and materials from all over the region. The event will also be the first to showcase London-based Phukan’s work using natural fabrics, particularly silk from the north-east.
The organisers are hoping to turn this fashion weekend into an annual affair.
