The Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) today announced the new dates and venue for the 13th edition of the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2009. WIFW will be hosted at the Intercontinental Eros, Nehru Place, New Delhi from the 18th - 23rd of March, 2009.

WIFW also began the hunt for the New Faces Going Places – ramp scorchers, who will help enhance and bring the vision of all WIFW participating designers to life. The Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week is known for being a hotbed of emerging and established design talent converting the runway and exhibition area into business destinations for Indian fashion designers.

Announcing the new dates and venue for the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Autumn Winter 2009 edition, Sunil Sethi, President, FDCI, said, “The Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week has established itself as a leading business of fashion event and has strived to create a platform for designers and models that are established and those that are emerging. WIFW will be held from the 18th – 23rd of March at the Intercontinental Eros. The dates for WIFW have been brought forward in accordance with the convenience of buyers, sponsors and the availability of the new 5-star venue.”

He further added, “WIFW is a well recognized platform for young models to showcase their talent. It is key for models to blend in with the mood of the collection and thereby enhance every aspect of a designers vision. Models walking the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week runway will be both established names as well as the faces of tomorrow. I wish all the participants the very best of luck.”

Atul Chand, Divisional Chief Executive, ITC’s Lifestyle Retailing, said, "The Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week is the country's most prestigious and celebrated fashion event. It has been a great platform to recognise and nurture fresh talent. We are delighted at the overwhelming response to the model auditions and I am sure the new faces discovered will go places. We look forward to another exciting and spectacular edition of Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week."

The Jury members for the model auditions would consist of:

Aparna Bahl Ashish Soni

Ayesha Thapar Rahul Khanna

Tinu Verghese Varun Bahl

Vidyun Singh

The Winning Formula -What Are Our Jury Members Going to Be Looking For?

Aparna Bahl, said, “The look on the ramp is very international these days, so a dusky Indian beauty with global appeal is what I would look out for along with good skin and a lot of individuality.”

Ashish Soni, said, “I'm looking for confidence, poise and something out of the ordinary, as the cliché goes "lots of attitude"... this one translated refers to not the usual qualities but something that a majority of the other girls don't possess an interesting skin tone, body proportions, hairstyle and above all eye contact!”

Ayesha Thapar, said, “I’ll be looking for someone who has a complete package. It’s not important for a model to have only one outstanding feature, for instance, height alone does not make a model suitable for the ramp – but what important is how comfortable they are in their skin and how well coordinated they are in terms of their looks, attitude and poise on the ramp.”

Rahul Khanna, said, “I’m definitely looking for someone who makes a lasting impression on the ramp – someone who has an undeniable presence. The right attitude is also key for a model to have. I feel we have some great established models walking the runway, but we also need to look for new faces to introduce and launch.”

Tinu Verghese, said, “I’m looking for fresh faces, someone tall and slender with a great attitude and decidedly Indian features.”

Varun Bahl, said, “The look I’m going to be watching out for is one that is well divided and can carry and showcase Western as well as Indian wear. Additionally I’ll be looking for girls that are tall, young and have a lot of confidence on the ramp.”

Vidyun Singh, said, “The fashion week requires the models to be adaptive from one designers show to another and given that there is hardly any time to train them, there needs to be a basic understanding of ramp shows. I will try to choose the most versatile person who fits into the need of all designers, someone who can swing into the rhythm of Fashion Week with minimal intervention.”

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About Fashion Design Council of India:

Ten years into the business of fashion, FDCI has taken the Indian Fashion industry global and made it a national pride. It has been instrumental in promoting the business of fashion and creating new opportunities for all stakeholders. Over the years FDCI has used various marketing platforms, seminars and workshops to promote fashion. FDCI, a not for profit organization, is the apex industry body in the field of fashion in India. Its primary objective is to provide a cohesive platform for Indian designers and act as the mouthpiece of the industry at all relevant platforms, in a bid to promote Indian fashion - at home and abroad. FDCI is actively involved in promoting the 'business of fashion' and working towards corporatisation of fashion labels in India. FDCI is instrumental in facilitating designer-corporate tie-ups, aimed at expanding the fashion market in the country. Apart for India Fashion Week, FDCI has also introduced India Couture Week and India Men’s Wear Week to market Indian fashion. For details visit www.fdci.org

About Wills Lifestyle

ITC’s Wills Lifestyle has been established as a vibrant fashion brand for the premium consumer. Wills Lifestyle offers a complete lifestyle wardrobe for the premium consumer, incorporating the latest fashion trends for both men and women. A nationwide chain of exclusive specialty stores provides the Indian consumer a truly 'International Shopping Experience'. Currently there are 51 Wills Lifestyle stores in 30 cities across the country, and the brand is making rapid strides in terms of expansion – doubling the number of stores over the next three years. For details visit www.willslifestyle.com

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