LAKME

Indian Fashion Week, supported by IMG and held in Mumbai, is a thought-provoking event which by attempting to straddle the difference between Western and Indian attitudes and mores raises interesting points for both countries.

Most of them revolve around attitudes to sex and women. Whilst I was in Mumbai, a fifth Indian state banned sex education in schools, something which in Britain and most of the West is enshrined as a right for all children. Of course, India is allowed to make its own rulings on morality just as on everything else. But such a ban does raise questions over how far any fashion affiliation between the country and the West can actually go.

As everyone knows, India - with a population of over a billion - is split in religions, languages and literacy. Less than half the women of India are literate. Out of its total population, the Indian middle classes are growing in number and wealth and yet they are far outnumbered by the majority of the people, who are living just above subsistence level.

What has all this to do with fashion? Well, fashion is about making choices - informed and educated choices - and if women have neither money nor education they can make neither. Modern Indian fashion designers acknowledge that what they produce has little meaning for the majority. Of course in this they are like their counterparts in the West. The difference is that whereas Western designers can exert a "trickle down" influence on the high street, in India there is no high street because most women, as opposed to Indian men, still wear only traditional dress, which is of course sourced traditionally.

So a fashion industry for Indian women barely exists nor, it would seem, is at this point needed. So, if designers are to make sales of any serious amount they must aim to service the needs of consumers outside the country. To do so, they must bow to Western attitudes. But by doing that they make it even less likely that their clothes will have any significant influence on how the majority of Indian women actually dress. In this, we can say that Indian fashion is at the point where Western fashion was before the mid 19th century.

But we come back to the question of sex - rarely very far away in fashion. In the West sex becomes a more blatant even strident fashion element every season. It cannot be ignored by designers wishing to enter that market. And yet speaking as an outsider to India, I have the impression that what is admired in that country is female modesty. So that is the yawning chasm that somehow must be crossed if India is not only to compete but also to beat their closest rival on that part of the world in the race for the west which is of course China.

So what did I see at Lakme fashion week? Much to admire, a certain amount to deplore, very little which is actually ready to take on Western markets at this point in any serious sense. And although this doesn't mean that India should forget about becoming an international fashion player, it does mean that serious consideration must be given to educating Indian designers in the tastes and ways of life which characterise their potential customers in the West. I could put it more strongly and say that a programme should be devised to help Indian designers to bridge the gap - and it should be done sooner rather than later.

With the help and support of Lakme and IMG, the ingenuity and creativity of Indian designers can certainly be developed into an entity which can make an international impact. But it must be done soon before the Chinese dragon tramples over any future opportunities for India to become a global player.

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