WLIFW takes off in 'Fashion Capital Delhi'

New Delhi, Mar 21 (UNI) The Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WLIFW)' Autumn-Winter '07 kickstarted in the country's ''fashion capital'' with much fanfare last night.

Inaugurating the event last night, Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken said Delhi has become the country's world-class fashion capital over the years thereby adding one more tag to its political capital status.

The Minister's remark gained a huge round of applause and the audience, along with designers, continued to cheer till the Minister lit the candle to declare the event open.

Besides, Mr Maken's statement that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has identified a piece of land at Dwarka for the fashion industry in order to boost the influx of buyers into the country and develop business worldwide has added a significant dimension to the event.

The bi-annual event, organised by the Fashion Design Council of India--a not-for-profit apex body of India Indian fashion designers-- will focus on the domestic Indian fashion market and showcase two collections --Pret-a-Porter (ready-to-wear) and Diffusion (a line between ready-to-wear and trousseau/couture).

Today, Aparna Chandra and Malini Ramani collections left the audience spellbound as the models displayed their works during the first show of the event on day one.

As the day progressed, it was followed by the collections by designers Manav Gangwani-Siddartha Tytler, Araiya by Arshiya Fakih-Rabani and Rakha, Anju Modi and cue by Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna.

However, fans of Rohit Bal and Ritu Kumar have kept their fingers crossed as they are yet to display their couture to wind up the first day of the event.

This year, the WLIFW will have over 40 ramp shows to display coutures of over 87 designers, including those mentioned above, across the country with over 160 buyers.

The title sponsors for the event are the WILLS Lifestyle.

UNI