In the recent years Chennai has been blooming when it comes to fashion, there is a considerable amount of change in how people have started to take fashion seriously. The interesting part is the men are getting more conscious than the women. The scene which was quite reserve is coming out of the closet, and it’s high time.
Earlier in July 2015, we saw an event which made a bold fashion statement with sizzling designers having emerging models and students of fashion industry unleash their potential. With that being said we got our Fashion event in Chennai in the name of “Chennai Fashion Week”. It is a Global fashion week that offers wide networking opportunities for designers, retailers, buyers and models.
This event is hosted by “Brand Avatar”. They are specialized in networking and branding, their execution makes a brand stand out with a vibrant brand personality.
Brand Avatar was founded by Hemachandran, which was co-founded by Atreya Tiwari and Reema Tiwari. Cinema Glitz got a chance to speak to Reema Tiwari (co-founder Brand Avatar), we have a few interesting facts to share about the Brand Avatar and Fashion Premier Week with our readers.
Atreya comes from a different background who used to work for HCL technologies. But he had always a penchant for networking, moreover his friends were from networking and event management background. Being around them, made him curious about this field. Reema states that her forte is “Wedding Planning” and when she got married to Atreya, they thought why not start wedding planning, which was not that popular in Chennai. That gave birth to Band Avatar in association with another partner Hemachandran.
Hemachandran has an expertise as a Marketing consultant, he helps people in transforming business, provide turnkey suggestion for projects. Whereas Atreya and Reema are experts in event management & high-end décor. They came together forming “Brand Avatar”. It has two verticals one events per se and the other is consultancy. With the advantage of having an event wing, they don’t have the need to outsource, which helps them develop a brand, make its presence felt through social media marketing and provide PR services.
Reema is very passionate about wedding planning and high-end décor. She quotes “Décor is her baby”, they hosted a wedding in Tuticorin, which become an example in that city as no one till date hosted a wedding of that calibre. As Reema says they don’t cater to a particular segment of clients, it’s about their demand, taste and liking. Which Brand Avatar makes sure is done out of the box right from the welcome till the thank you card.
When asked how did the transition to Fashion happened from wedding, marketing and consultants, Reema quips and states it was an accident in fact, as one of their client happened approach them with a proposition, that’s when “Chennai Fashion Week” happened, which is originally owned by National School of Design. They were holding a license for more than 8 years and asked to execute this on seeing how Brand Avatar is prominent in building an identity.
As an event company you have your own and hosted event, which resulted in “Fashion Premier Week”. A study was done across India to see how Fashion Week were being hosted, also we went through FDCI which is a major council for Fashion in India. According to that, there should be two Fashion week to be conducted in a year, one in summer and another in winter. In winter the following summer collection will be showcased, whereas in summer the following winter collection.
Reema says it has been a great journey so far, and this time Chennai will see Falguni & Shane Peacock doing the grand finale. The most exciting part is the brand ambassador “Neil Nitin Mukesh”, who is great with fashion and keeps himself updated. With his Diwali release “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo” releasing in Hindi and Tamil. And also acted in the blockbuster “Kaththi” as a villain will make him suitable face for “Fashion Premier Week”. We also got an insight on the future projects of Brand Avatar, which we will keep you updated and the grape vine is a concert by a famous Bollywood artist. Reema then introduced us to the designers Sarath Krishnan & KD, for whom Neil Nitin will be walking the ramp this time.
The designer duo Sarath Krishnan & KD operate under the brand name “Glamora”, they are based out of Mumbai and this will be their second outing in Chennai, as the previous one was in July’15 Chennai Fashion Week, where Jai Bhanunshali walked the ramp as the show stopper during the grand finale. They specialize in high-end garments, like exquisite wedding wear, red carpet wear etc. casual designs are not their forte. Their expertise is making the garments lighter, which may look loud but won’t be heavy to wear. They are not yet in to movies but have designed for various celebrities like Sonu Sood, Shekar Suman, Amrita Rao and of course Neil Nitin Mukesh. Sarath stated that Glamora was started a year back and before that it was freelancing designing.
KD a.k.a Khanaiya Devjani, who resembles and talks like actor Ram Kapoor, said freelancing started mostly through family weddings, which took off with word of mouth and now we are here. They are currently working with production houses, and there are a list of celebrities in line who will be featuring their brand, but it’s little soon to disclose the names until its finalised. They are waiting for the right movie to come across, as they don’t want to make their presence felt in the industry just for the sake of it. Sarath says that it’s too soon to comment on the scene in Chennai as this is their second outing, whereas they have designed Rai Laxmi for SIIMA awards, as of now they’re just rooting themselves down south.
There was a press meet earlier today for “Fashion Premier Week” held at Crowne Plaza. The main event will be during 9, 10 & 11th of December 2015 and the venue partner will be Crowne Plaza.
