Foreign land, original cut

Manpriya Singh

Over to Vancouver. Even in the most famous wedding shopping destination for South- Asians in North America, a lot was amiss and a lot more misplaced. Place where every boutique hotel exhibition is a sell-out, the buyers have purchasing power but seldom the exposure or a live brush with what’s actually trending in India. “The most moving bit was replicas being passed off as originals and sold for higher prices than the original,” designer duo Jai Parvesh connected all the scattered dots lining the bridal market in Canada only to wipe them away in one go. All set to take over the multi-cultural bridal market of North America with Bridal Week Vancouver, the duo shares how the three-day event came into being and what to look forward to.

Big names

Of the better known names in the Indian fashion industry, there’s Satya Paul, Varun Bahl, Raghvendra Rathore, Shymal & Bhumika, Rohit Verma, apart from of course the duo themselves. Of the total 45 slots available, 30 names have been confirmed, some of which are also, “Lisas Bridal, MadSam TinZin, Pammi Singh, Golden Brides, Hannah Tikkanen, Katryn Bass.” He adds, “We have a panel of six to seven people and the names of the participating and showcasing designers has to be confirmed as well as approved by all six. We looked at their profile and the stocking experience.”

All set to showcase their own bridal line at the fashion week, they reveal, “It will be a bridal line, which we have kept traditional with works like zardosi and modern by including silhouettes like gowns.”

For the bridal season 2016, they predict, “a subtle shift from the multi-coloured to colour palette of beige, peacock and faun.”

Experienced hands

With their label having marked its presence in Vancouver through the duo’s retail venture, RaasLeela (a multi-designer store boasting of designers from India, Pakistan, Canada and New Zealand), it was only time to graduate. On a parallel thought, the fashion week is somewhere an attempt to break free from the very few platforms available in the country. “You often don’t get the buyers you deserve, you often get the business you deserve,” and that partly explains their recent absence from the major fashion weeks of the country.

Thrown in are experiences and observations on the overseas market, they have now come to know really well. “People there can be quite bold in their choices otherwise, but are not very happy about showing bellies or belly button,” he laughs. As for the fashion week dates, “They have been selected keeping in mind the huge turnout during Baisakhi festival,” shares Jai, while pointing out to Vancouver’s biggest Vaisakhi parade in the world outside India, with last year’s record gathering of almost 500,000 people. There will be white gowns, there will be red lehengas and most importantly there will be Punjabis in their multi-cultural glory!

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(The 3-day event will be held from April 8-10 at Vancouver Convention Centre)