Jio World Centre to be permanent venue for LFW

By Radhika Bhirani

Mumbai, Jan 30 (IANS) Jio World Centre, the avant garde building complex under development in the commercial district of Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) here, will in future be the permanent venue for the bi-annual Lakme Fashion Week (LFW), said a top official.

"We are hoping that the Jio World Centre should open within the next year and that's just going to change the game for fashion week. We hope to see a completely different way fashion is done when we move there," Jaspreet Chandok, Vice President and Head of Fashion, IMG Reliance, told IANS here.

Chandok said they were looking to move the event there "at the latest" by LFW Summer/Resort 2020 edition.

"It will be our permanent venue for LFW," he said on the sidelines of the opening show of the LFW Summer/Resort 2019 gala, which will be held at the JioGarden.

"Be prepared to be blown away," he said of the venue for the ongoing season.

LFW, so far, has been oscillating between hotels and event grounds. A permanent venue would certainly bring it more stability and credibility.

Jointly organised by cosmetics and beauty services brand Lakme and IMG Reliance Pvt Ltd, LFW first took place in 1999. The organisers wish to reorient the extravaganza, which has been embracing sustainability and inclusivity as well as pushing the Indian weaver community and emerging talent into a positive direction.

"We are looking at reinventing and reinventing ourselves. So, we are taking those steps over a period of time, and over the next year, you will see a dramatic change in how we see fashion and fashion week.

"We want to be at the forefront with that... Whether it's a new way of showcasing, whether it's bringing stories that nobody brings to the fore. Whether it is business of fashion, or maybe just how fashion is interpreted visually... We are going to break it all down and start again."

Chandok doesn't wish to take the "entire credit" but feels proud that LFW has somewhere been able to dilute the while idea that fashion stands for exclusivity.

"One of the things that we have been able to do and are very proud of it as it has had national repercussions is to say that fashion is inclusive. The conversations around inclusivity are percolating into culture and that's something we feel we were one of the first step takers -- whether it was LGBTQ, whether it was inclusivity stories across the board, we took the risk.

"Now that people do it, it's not a risk at all. And that is a testimony to how we want to change the game," he added.

(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in. She is in Mumbai on an invitation by LFW organisers.)