The show must go on...

Manpriya Singh

A weekend of curated clothes, live band and comfort food was a win-win concept from the word go. Which is why lifestyle exhibitions have come to define the cultural-scape of the region; bringing together hundreds of pop stores, trunk shows and window or wedding shoppers alike.

When we talk of generating revenues, getting the economy back on track and fetching employment to artisans, these are not even an afterthought. Says Wedding Asia co-founder Maninder S Sethi, “We definitely are badly affected. What’s also adding on to the unease is that there are no guidelines for us, nor is there any reason for us to expect any such guidelines in the near future.”

Virtually there

While he agrees that majority of the people have deferred their weddings, it’s the calls and request first that made them explore the next best options. Which is how the Wedding Asia Digital, with a centrespread of Covid-safe weddings came to be. The editions thereafter tackled all that it took to take the pandemic positively. Right from trousseau designers to wedding planners counselling couples-to-be on how this is a golden opportunity to cut on the guest list and splurge on things that matter instead.

Adds Sethi, “We are contemplating fixed retail stores wherein the exhibitors could be rotating. Appointments can be given in a way that no more than 30 people are catered to at one point of time.” While the brand Wedding Asia did as many 14 city tour, including Chandigarh and Ludhiana, when and how successful the virtual or fixed physical retail stores will be, only time will tell.

Desperate time, desperate measures

When the first lockdown was announced in March, Neha and Amit Singla knew it would be a full stop to multiple pre-wedding and post wedding events, luxurious set-ups and how lifestyle exhibitions will be the worst affected and will be the last priorities of the consumers for a long time to come.

“We quickly reinvented and offered exhibition clients a model under which they could promote their labels digitally, while before the pandemic, we were providing physical platforms to exhibitors in the form of exhibitions, fairs and showcases, now we are doing the same online,” shares the duo behind Million Dollar Affair that showcases in almost all the prominent cities of Punjab, including Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jallandhar and Bathinda.

While the concept of exhibitions may have shifted platform in the interim period to stay afloat or stay relevant, it will be a long while for the consumer confidence to return. “That is especially because the model of most of these lifestyle exhibitions was what can now be called totally anti-social distancing. Cabin-sized stalls, anywhere from a 50 to 100 stalls fit in the banquet to lawns of the hotels and thousands of shoppers turning up over a span of two days is what make these profitable for the organisers,” says Shruti Mahajan, from the label Butterfly, an Amritsar-based Indo-prêt label.

Technology to the rescue

What was normal earlier won’t return ever and she sees how this will continue to be a lucrative business model under the new normal. She adds, “Which is why we are relying on social media and especially Instagram and video calls to find new clientele out there. They are already given the samples to make-up for the absence of physical touch and feel of the fabric and colours.”

“The new challenges require an overhaul of the concept,” agrees the organiser of another such lifestyle and wedding exhibition organiser in Patiala on the condition of anonymity. “Casual footfalls will have to be minimised and now we are contemplating having people over by appointments, charging an entry fee and letting the entry be restricted in terms of timings, like max an hour and thereafter increasingly chargeable every half an hour.” Desperate times, even more desperate measures. “For the majority of players out there, there’s only one respite. People won’t stop shopping, weddings will still happen. Only the fashion will be slow.