India Fashion Week or what the industry calls FDCI x Lakmé Fashion Week has just ended and, according to beleaguered fashion insiders, you can forget about worrying what the new black is. Corporate marketing and sponsorship is fashion’s new flavour. This was hinted at the first ‘physical’ fashion week held in Delhi after two years of virtual shows through the pandemic.  

There were more than 40 shows—nearly half of them sponsored—listed through the five days, and to watch them all on a device, this writer had to sit through half a dozen ads, courtesy main organisers Lakmé, Fashion Design Council of India and Rise Worldwide. And while we are used to the sponsor trailers that air right before the first model walks onto stage, what we didn’t anticipate were deeper brand integrations.