Lakme Fashion Week Preps For Its First Digital Edition

The most coveted and prestigious fashion event of the entire year Lakme Fashion Week preps for its first digital edition keeping in mind the COVID 19 pandemic

In this unexpected world thanks to the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic from the past seven months, it has created its huge impact on the glamorous glitz filled world of fashion where now even the fashion brands who show case their clothing collections through globally renowned fashion week events in India and also across the globe are being forced to rethink their working style because of the COVID 19 pandemic. But in midst of all this, there is a slight silver lining and indicator of fact that anything is possible where fashion aficionados will be witnessing just how Lakme fashion week preps for its first digital edition.

The newly made rules of not having a live audience now for the safety of the people from coronavirus is also a big cause of concern for them due to which all the fashion designers, brands, and the production companies organizing the fashion week events have been compelled to rethink and remodel all their priorities, their routine way of working and every other role too and there is a happy news which will make all the fashion critics and designers very joyful as they all would be seeing the new normal way in which the most coveted event, Lakme fashion week preps for its first digital edition.

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The words like surreal, fantastic, escapist, and avant garde which are all generally synonymous with fashion have been now put to test in this ongoing COVID 19 pandemic where the world is getting more and more in the clutches of this deadly life endangering virus and also now in this time span, the fashion weeks have to adapt themselves to the new normal of social distancing and going digital or virtual instead of their normal earlier ways where it used to be a star studded glamorous event where the fashion quotient was on par and fleek.

More so than now, especially India cannot risk having audiences and people into their fashion shows just like their earlier pre corona days since we have been constantly seeing a huge spurt of COVID 19 cases from past seven months where the curve hasn’t flattened yet even now.

This year 2020 we think Indian fashion weeks would likely be following the phygital (physical + digital hybrid) format which has been seen in the Indian Couture Week and Lotus Makeup India Fashion Week where the used layout was of screening the pre-recorded fashion films digitally through a virtual medium, now the Lakme fashion week preps for its first digital edition which is going to be season less instead of the usual season series, where it will be showcasing and portraying an eclectic mix of designer fashion show cases, webinars, pre-recorded fashion films, and so on which is going to be taking place in between the 21st and 25th October 2020.

About the future of fashion weeks going virtual and digital instead of physical, during a recent interview with a leading Indian digital entertainment website, Jasdeep Chandok head of lifestyle businesses at IMG Reliance who is also a co-sponsor of the event said, “A key decision of investments this season were on actions that are less reactionary and more strategic”.

Jasdeep Chandok explained further in detail about the new key features which would include the Virtual Hub that would be the event’s primary content platform which will be accessible to all the audiences, viewers, buyers and the media, second important factor here is ‘The Runway’, which is going to display virtually all the designer showcases and fashion films that boasts of a gallery having an access to the exclusive behind the scenes live action and snippets. The third and last innovative set up will be the ‘See Now Buy Now’ option that makes it possible for the buyers to buy the fashion outfits from any of the shows as soon as it ends.

Jasdeep Chandok continuing on same lines also said, “The creation of these features is done with the expectation that they will expand themselves and become key actions in the years to come. Even when we return to a physical event, all these elements become companion actions adding to the overall product offering to consumers. We see this season as a pilot and we are happy to get feedback from all stakeholders and continue the development of all these digital initiatives”.

For designers, models, and the other filming crew and artists, shooting of fashion week did start several weeks earlier. Supermodel Lakshmi Rana who has been a part of India’s coveted fashion weeks throughout her illustrious career spanning two decades in the industry said, “Going into the season, there was a general sense of uncertainty, We had no clue of what we were getting into, the kind of work that was expected of us, and how we would keep ourselves safe. The reason why I accepted Lakmé Fashion Week was because IMG was handling all safety protocols themselves. And I must say, they did it to a tee. I needed this assurance for the safety of myself and my family”.

Also according to an IMG spokesperson, approximately around 800 COVID 19 tests were conducted in a gap of every few hours during the entire shooting schedule of the event at the St. Regis Hotel in Mumbai.

There were very strict safety rules and protocols to be followed, which clearly said that all those who are involved in the shoot had to undergo a mandatory atleast four to six days of home quarantine followed by a three day isolation at the hotel as well.