The fashion merry-go-round – it seems, is getting faster and more exclusive of late. While the high street offers us catwalk looks at affordable prices, the mid to upper market has homed in on quality and exclusivity. Buyers are now taking risks with unknowns, in the search for the very latest happening label, and now that search has gone global.

Valentina Vatistas owns the Elival Fashion Incubator on the King’s Road, Chelsea, which specifically stocks new and directional designers sourced from around the world. Currently in store there is: Pantelis Mitsu, Gozi, Sandro Vicari, Francesca Miranda and Ines Valentinitsch. Hunger for the new means that Vatistas isn’t alone in her search for the next up & coming designer label.

Albert Morris, buyer for Browns London, took a calculated risk last May when he decided to stock most of the Sabyasachi collection, spotted at the Lakme India Fashion Week in Delhi. Going with his gut feeling he simply said: “They’re beautiful clothes with the same creative spark as Dries van Noten.” Morris happened to be the first to introduce Dries van Noten to the UK and now hopes once again to give Browns that edge with Sabyasachi.

“I believe India’s fashion industry is going to explode.”

India, it seems, is the one to watch right now. Roger Tredre, editor-in-chief of Worth Global Style Network, recently said: “I believe India’s fashion industry is going to explode.”

Some key fashion pack players stopped off in Delhi last May while on route to the Mercedes Benz Australian Fashion Week. Foreign buyers and press included the likes of – Saks Fifth Avenue, Browns London, Colin McDowell from The Times and television crews from Canada and Singapore. The Delhi stop-over got those fashionable tongues wagging, with many raving about the quality, craftsmanship and the very now Indo-Western style. Indo-Western fusion is all about Indian craftsmanship merged with clean western designs.

India gained attention once again this month (November) with design heavyweight Calvin Klein touring the country for both inspiration and store expansion possibilities.
The American designer is said to be very interested in Indian fabrics, use of colour and embellishment, and most of all the way the latest batch of Indian designers combine Indian textiles with Western silhouettes.

Other Fashion Weeks getting noticed around the globe include: Sao Paulo, which has become a commercial success in recent years with some of the best beachwear around. New Zealand, for more edgy down under appeal with designers such as Zambesi, Nom D, World, Trelise Cooper, Sharon Ng and Karen Walker causing a stir. And more recently Johannesburg Fashion Week, which is totally separate from Cape Town Fashion Week, and features a generation of young, black designers that combine tradition with an urban edge.

New York, London, Milan and Paris maybe at the forefront of the Fashion Week scene but it seems plenty of others are joining in and getting noticed. And for all those buyers and press out there global travel looks par for the course.

One’s to Watch – Up & Coming Fashion Weeks:

+ Lakme India Fashion Week

+ New Zealand Fashion Week

+ Johannesburg Fashion Week

+ Mercedes Benz Australian Fashion Week

+ Singapore Fashion Week

By JoJo Iles

Share this Article: