ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

As Lakme Fashion Week, in association with FDCI, completes 25 years, here is a trip down memory lane with the most iconic looks at the LFW grand finale.

- Smita Tripathi

Glamour, glitz and grandeur marked a historic moment in the Indian fashion industry as on the last Sunday of March, Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) in association with the Fashion Development Council of India (FDCI) celebrated 25 years of fashion weeks in the country. It was at the turn of the century with India having been liberalised less than a decade ago and having a rather nascent fashion industry that the idea of setting up a fashion week on the likes of the New York Fashion Week was birthed to provide a platform for Indian designers and help them with large scale commerce. “We have come a long way since then,” says Sunil Sethi, Chairman, FDCI. “It’s not about creativity because the Indian designer was equally creative then, what has changed is the scale. It has gone up manifold,” he says, adding, that today we are a well-established industry competing on a global scale. “The LFW today is a must-view event for many people worldwide - from the Middle East, the US and Europe. It’s for global buyers to come and see what we are doing. We celebrate our evolution and journey,” says Sethi.

To mark the occasion, the final day saw two styles from 30 grand finale designers of previous years, including Rina Dhaka, Varun Bahl, Ritu Kumar, Tarun Tahiliani, Gaurav Gupta, Suneet Varma, Anita Dongre, Amit Agrawal, Falguni & Shane Peacock, among others.