Lakme Fashion week announces the Gen Next Batch for Winter/Festive 2012

Riding high on the achievements of LFW Summer/Resort 2012, the esteemed panel of Lakmé Fashion Week Advisory Board members met to announce several exciting initiatives for LFW Winter/Festive 2012, scheduled from August 3 to August 7, 2012. 

Indian Textile Day: LFW will be dedicating an exclusive day for Indian textiles again this season as a part of the ongoing effort to celebrate Indian textiles and weaves. The day will witness a strong pool of textile designers from across the country with live demonstrations by craftsmen throughout the week. This season will continue to host knowledge sharing workshops and panel discussions with industry veterans to bring awareness and increase support for Indian textiles

Talent Box: With the overwhelming response and success of Talent Box shows - the international concept of showcasing designs in a second showing  area at ‘The Source’,  will celebrate its one year anniversary this season

Supporting its mission to promote new talent, the respected panel of the LFW Advisory Board members also shortlisted the new batch of Gen Next, Emerging and Accessory Designers for Winter/Festive 2012. The popular Gen Next category at LFW, in its 7th year, announced the fourteenth batch of promising young designers for its next edition.

• As compared to Winter/Festive 2011, this upcoming season of WF 2012 has generated a credible increase in applications across categories, a testament of the reach the platform represents and the business transacted last season. LFW Winter/Festive 2012 received around 250 designer applications across categories

• Submissions came from 27 cities across the country along with international applicants from Colombo, Dubai, Dhaka, Ontario, Sydney, Hong Kong and Texas 

Winter/ Festive 2012 will see 7 Gen Next, 15 Emerging and 3 Accessory designers showcasing their collections. Applications were judged on the criteria of quality, innovation and creativity, marketability and commercial viability. Eminent designer and stylist Aki Narula continues to mentor the Gen Next designers this season as well. 

The Lakmé Fashion Week Advisory Board comprises of eminent stakeholders from the fashion fraternity, including designers, buyers and the media. This season, the responsibility of selecting the future talent rested on the shoulders of experts - Anamika Khanna- Designer, Dr. Alka Nishar- AZA, Dr. Darlie O' Koshy- AEPC, Krishna Mehta-Designer, Pradeep Hirani- Kimaya, Priya Tanna, Vogue,  Sujata Assomull- Launch Editor Harpers Bazaar along with Anjana Sharma, Director – Fashion, IMG Reliance and Purnima Lamba- Head Lakmé, Innovation, who are all part of the LFW Advisory Board. 

Talking about the new talent and applications this season, Purnima Lamba- Lakmé, Innovations said, “The Lakmé Fashion Week Advisory Board has always been a strong supporter of new talent and believes in providing some exceptional opportunities allowing designers to showcase their work on a larger scale. As the newest member on the Advisory Board, I look forward to bring my experience in the beauty industry and take this platform to the next level. We are also very thrilled to introduce to you a fresh batch of designers that show a lot of promise with their futuristic designs and creativity. We are positive that our new initiatives and the Gen Next designers paired with the industry stalwarts will play a key role in setting newer benchmarks.” 

Also present at the Advisory Board, Anjana Sharma, Director-Fashion, IMG Reliance said, “LFW has been conceived with an aim to integrate India into the global fashion world. The perception of Indian designers globally is that of immense talent, and as supporters of the business of fashion, it is our endeavour to discover and put forward the best. As a platform conceived by LFW, Gen Next has been one of our highlights since its inception and has become the most coveted program encouraging young talent. This season our main focus it to strengthen our commitment towards young talent. These inclusio.