Premia India Runway Week – a platform of confluence for established and upcoming designers

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Posted in: Fashion n Modelling on Thursday, 29 August 2013 12:37

Published on Thursday, 29 August 2013 12:37

Written by Models n Trends

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Even as young blood seeks to find a place under the sun, it has to draw on the experience of their peers, who have already made it big in the fashion industry. So while young designers are keen to find recognition and try out innovations and improvements, it is the responsibility of those that struggled and won to help provide platforms for a confluence of experience and exuberance.

With that in view, two entrepreneurs Avinash Pathania and Kiran Kheva founded the Indian Federation for Fashion Development (IFFD) to provide a platform for these designers and discover new talent, giving them a chance to enter the fashion industry and present themselves to a great audience.

Premia India Runway week organized by the IFFD will open on 29th August and will have a formal closing event on 1st September 2013, while the presentations of the shows will be on 30th and 31st August at Mapple Exotica, New Delhi.

Premia India Runway Week is a new platform that showcases tomorrow’s designers today. Fresh designer talent will exhibit their talent with their collections, making it a must see show for fashion enthusiasts who do not want to miss out on the industry’s ‘ones to watch’ talent.


PIRW AW ‘13 will feature around twenty designers and artists, who will each present authentic Indian made designs and products while showing the diversity of Indian fashion. These designers would be majorly young talent and a few established names as well. Some of the names of the  participating designers are fashion designers Rajdeep Ranawat, Amit Talwar, Roli and Saurabh Khandelwal, Digvijay Singh, Sagar Mehra, Tanmay Sachdeva, Sandeep & Anju Chanana, Rosy Ahluwalia, Raas by Akanksha & Dhruv Arora, Mini Shangle Designs by Minakshi Shangle; jewellery designers Alka Kumar, Sulish Verma,  Punam & Preeti Kharkia; footwear designer Swati Modo, Megha Taluja- Ginger Lilly Sleepwear; makeup artist Ricky Seth, etc.

The event will feature Rod Anker, rated globally as one of topmost hair and makeup artist, as the official makeover partner. The choreographers are Liza Varma and Ajay.

The event will feature the best of traditional, indigenous, contemporary, and collaborative fashion, textiles and accessories from communities around India. The PIRW will not only showcase unique designs and products, but will also present a range of cultural performances, tourism experiences and visual art in the presence of national and international delegates. It also features a Fashion Fair Marketplace, direct purchasing links and networking opportunities for industry buyers, retailers and consumers.

IFFD founder and director Avinash Pathania says: “I am very eager to organize PIRW as I know how difficult it must be for upcoming designers to find the right audience to showcase their designs. IFFD is providing a profitable platform for them. This is a one-of-a-kind event that brings together a diverse group of designers under one banner.”

Kiran Kheva, co-founder and director of IFFD, adds: “PIRW is a very unique fashion event which is bringing a lot of designers from different milieu and backgrounds together. There are more Indian designers out there than I knew existed, so I am interested to showcase their work to the world. It is opening my eyes to new ideas, to see how designers have interpreted and weaved Indian culture into their designs. We finally get to celebrate their work during this special event!"

Referring to the development of the idea behind IFFD, the director duo says: “The idea to establish IFFD was to give these young people a chance to encourage and nurture new talent by giving them a chance to make connections, find buyers and rediscover themselves as artists. We can easily connect with these designers because we are also young and try to make our voices heard. We can imagine how difficult it must be for these aspirants to find their foothold in a sector that is already filled with many amazing designers. Nonetheless, they should not stop trying and neither will we. So do not underestimate these young designers, after all they are the veteran designers of the future!”


About IFFD & its Founders & Directors:

IFFD is a year old organisation and was born with the commitment of uplifting the fashion industry by promoting young designers. Avinash Pathania, 26 year old, an MBA from IIPM, and Kiran Kheva, 23 year old, a post graduate from Lady Shri Ram College, both like to walk the untrodden path and with this zeal created this platform.  


IFFD has organised India Fashion Summit twice, 30th August 2012 and on 29th March 2013, showcasing new talent alongwith known designers like Rajdeep Ranawat, Amit Talwar, Samant chauhan, Alka Kumar and Rosy Ahluwalia

IFFD was a distant dream when we graduated but we were passionate about revitalising the industry and committed to inspire the growth in the sector. Fascinated by the dynamics of the industry, we often thought that it shouldn’t be such a hardship for new and aspiring designers to enter this glamorous world. The idea to establish IFFD was to give these young people a chance to nurture their talents and encourage their growth by giving them a platform to make connections, find international buyers and rediscover themselves as artists. Thankfully, we were successful in providing them useful and up-to-date information to keep the industry on top of what is happening locally and abroad, to make it more competitive and to encourage a thirst for quality education.