Fashion Shows - Behind the scenes

Glamour, supermodels, celebrities, the latest trends, styles and looks. That’s what comes to mind when someone says fashion show. But what happens behind the scenes? How do these gorgeous dresses come into being and make their way to the ramp-walks? A fashion show might last 3 minutes or so, but there is an enormous amount of time gone into it to make the 3 minutes successful. A Designer starts working on his/her collection 6-8 months before the show. A collection can be any number of different garments, from a few exclusive pieces with different design elements to a large section of varied styles. The designers first establish the purpose of their collection and the market they are aiming at. Then, they look for a theme to stimulate a visual interpretation. An intense research process follows, where preliminary ideas are refined and the direction of the collection is established, resulting in the right choice of fabric, color and silhouette. A storyboard is then put together to provide a visual representation of the collection being developed. And now the designing takes place. The designs are shortlisted, altered and then finalized. Then the designs are materialized into garments. During the materialization, a lot of care is taken on the neatness and detailing of the design. So how do you define a fashion week? Technically, a fashion week is an event, lasting approximately one week, which allows fashion designers, brands to display their latest collections in runway shows and buyers and the media to take a look at the latest trends. Most importantly, these events let the industry know what's "in" and what's "out" for the season. A Fashion week is the best platform for a new designer to be in the “IT LIST” of the industry. Fashion weeks are semiannual events. January through April, designers showcase their autumn and winter collections and September through November the spring/summer collections are shown. Fashion weeks are held several months in advance of the season to allow the press and buyers a chance to preview fashion designs for the following season. This is also to allow time for retailers to arrange to purchase or incorporate the designers into their retail marketing. The most prominent fashion weeks are held in the fashion capitals of the world. Errr.. Now, what is fashion capital?? Allow me to gyan-o-fy you here.  A fashion capital is a city which is a major centre for the fashion industry. In such a city, activities including the production and retail of fashion goods, fashion events and trade fairs generate significant economic activity. According to the latest ranking by the Global Language Monitor (GLM) 2011, London, New York, Paris , Milan, Los Angeles are the top 5 fashion capitals of the world, And when it comes to India, Mumbai was ranked 24th and Delhi 39th, Phhhewww Still a long way for us to go guys ! Shuchi K