What’s this season’s new trend? Sponsorships

If you recall a product placement more than the showstopper at a designer show, do we have a problem at hand?

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.

Actor Kriti Sanon made a show-stopper appearance in a chauffeur-driven Nexa for veteran Tarun Tahiliani’s Global Indian show 

This season included sponsor statements as a run-up to the main show, where the designer anyway tied his or her sartorial standpoint in with products like eyewear, smartphone, shoes, cars, audio accessories, and even a beauty salon. This, in addition to green fibre sponsor labels, Bemberg, R-Elan and Tencel. ‘Paid partnership’ Instagram posts made designers look perilously close to hucksters pushing sponsors’ footwear, gadgets and producers of finest filament yarns, rather than clothes. A fashion retailer, who requested anonymity, says, “This itself raises questions about sponsorships: do they exist only to make event companies successful?”

One half of the team behind the popular resort brand, Shivan & Narresh, Narresh Kukreja, argues, “Sponsorship is a bitter-sweet pill. And if designers don’t exercise discretion, there is danger of easily getting run over by the sponsor. As creative professionals, for us, managing a brand is akin to being a ship looking for commercial ports. We’re a luxury holiday brand, so a sponsored show with an eyewear company made sense for us to do. But it wasn’t a collaboration; our collection was ‘presented’ by John Jacobs.”

The Fresconian Series by Shivan & Narresh reimagined the visual legacy of fresco murals that decorate Shekhawati havelis, on five hand-painted prints of the season: Surocco (safari), LedgerMash (ski), Zoolostamp (cruise), Solscape (swim) and Maru (resort). “Like the fresco murals have documented local culture on haveli walls for generations, I feel that clothing does the same for our times,” says Narresh Kukreja  

When veteran designer Suneet Varma partnered with Bata India for his ’80s-inspired ready-to-wear collection, it was a business decision: an attempt to appeal to middle-class consumers. “Bata is popular among the aspirational, middle income group. So it was about two like-minded brands sharing a space and leveraging each other’s position,” Varma reasons. As a designer who enjoys loyal patronage from bridal couture-buying clients, did the product placement feel awkward? “Why would it? I’m very middle-class [in temperament], and I was happy to do it,” he laughs.

For all its razzle-dazzle and posturing to glamour, a high-fashion business is a daunting challenge. With the cost of presenting a show averaging at R5 lakh for an afternoon slot, with a primetime 9 pm spot costing R10 lakh, corporate sponsorships help designers offset the expense while ensuring all the accouterments that the designer could ever want: offsite venue, blockbuster set, top quality lighting and music, celebrity stylists and Bollywood stars. Besides, the event earns the muscle to be bigger and better the next time. Unconfirmed reports speak of eight-figure revenue earned from this season.    

“Being an ’80s kid, the pop songs from the decade instantly transport me to my life then, bringing back its magic and romance. The day-to-evening wear separates  celebrate life and living in the moment,” says Suneet Varma about The Eternal Lightness of Being collection presented in collaboration with ‘aspirational’ brand, Bata

The flipside? Sponsor brands use the fashion shows for guerilla advertising, stealthily gagging the authenticity of craft and good design. All too often at sponsored shows, designers have appeared lost and in search of an identity that often eclipsed their own. Did Huemn, who presented a collection with sponsors Boat (audio products), spare a thought for just how this “collaboration” could impugn their decade-old credibility as a brave indie streetwear brand?

If the introduction of sponsors has been to support younger designers, the audience didn’t see any new efforts, other than the three catwalk slots historically associated with new talent: INIFD Gen Next, Nexa Spotlight and Pearl Academy First Cut.

Which is probably why much of India’s cutting edge fashion talent either stages independent shows (Péro, Lovebirds, Saaksha & Kinni this season) or prefers going abroad. We heard that when an emerging independent designer requested a discount on the stall cost (Rs 2 lakh), the organisers did not relent. “It’s at this point that I realised that I am on my own. I’d rather invest a little more of my own money and take a stall at Tranoi [leading trade fair in Paris] and hopefully get two orders that will support my karigars,” according to the designer, who chose not to be identified.  

In defence

Jaspreet Chandok, Head, RISE Fashion & Lifestyle, argues that it’s investments that have enabled the fashion week to become the only non-sporting event in the country to play out at scale through the pandemic

“The Fashion Week returned to an on-ground format after many seasons and there has been excitement from all stakeholders including designers and sponsors on how to maximise the opportunity. We also wanted to make the partners who have supported us through the past two years feel special this season. Their investments have enabled the fashion week to be the only non-sporting event in the country to activate at scale throughout the pandemic. We do brand collaborations each season, and there hasn’t been an increase in the number of partnerships this time. We take feedback from all stakeholders after every edition and remain focused on the long term goal which is to scale up the event to become one of leading fashion weeks in the world.

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