Ramola Bachchan’s fashion and lifestyle venture, Runway Rising organised a one-day gala for all shopaholics at Delhi’s Hyatt Regency on 14 December. On the occasion of completing five years in the fashion industry, the brand curated an exclusive exhibition in the city that saw the participation of over 60 young designers from all over the country.
“The vision behind Runway Rising has always been to provide a platform for young designers to showcase their designs and collections for the elite shoppers of Delhi-NCR,” said Ramola Bachchan.
Talking about her venture, she added, “We did the first edition five years ago as a small experimental exhibition of 40 designers. Young designers have limited budgets, so we had to be creative in keeping our costs low. The show met with a positive response and the second edition took place at the Hyatt Regency Ballroom and featured 75+ designers, followed quickly by the Ashok Hotel where we featured 150 designers. One thing led to another.”
On the long-term goals of the exhibition, Bachchan asid, “To continue to provide a strong springboard for talented young designers and to develop their businesses are the only goals for us as of now.” She believes that the exhibitions give shoppers the opportunity to buy everything under one roof, whether it’s apparels, accessories, shoes, bags, festive collections and much more.
“Instead of hunting various markets, they get to shop everything at once and make contacts for future purposes,” she said.
In conversation with Guardian 20, Bachchan also talked about the exclusivity and strength of Runway Rising. She said, “Our strength is to bring designers from all across India. Every year we have designers from Delhi, Kolkata, Rajasthan, Punjab and more showcasing at the exhibition, which makes it more exciting and opens many more options for the shoppers.”
An exclusive winter and festive collection was also displayed at the one-day extravaganza. Numerous stalls were set up that showcased astounding collection of festive wear, shoes, jewellery, watches, handloom, mak-up demos, hand bags, accessories, Western wear, home décor, chocolates and so on.
Young brand labels like Paisley Pop, a Jammu-based company, showcased their wedding collection. “We are coming up with pure silver collection which is apt for winter holidays, and it will be called the Holiday Edit,” said Tanya Anand, founder, Paisley Pop. Some of the other new brands participating here were Artous, Artified Creations, Rassberrie, Warewood- Bespoke Shoemakers, Mystique Home, The Kaurz, Outlines, Ultravoilet and She-Shoo.
“We are presenting different varieties of chocolates. We have nuts, truffles and cups. We also have three shades of chocolates that are white, dark and milk. Then we have a wide variety of chocolates of cashew, caramel, jaggrey, blueberry, tiramisu, walnuts and so on. Some of these flavours are not even available in India right now. We are the first ones to come up with these many varieties of cups, truffles and nuts,” said Nishu of La Chocoallure Chocolatier, the gifting partner at the event.
The Pink Mirror label offers a wide range of designer kurtis, lehenga, embroidered salwar suits and fancy salwar suits for women. The brand showcased its “Bret & Couture” collection at the event. Shree Nandita Jewels, a destination jewellery venture also showcased their intricate kundan jewellery collection.
“There is a need of such exhibitions as there is high footfall at these events. People don’t particularly visit jewellery stores to shop but because of these exhibitions we get a chance to showcase our collection to a larger audience.” said Nandita Shekhawat, founder of Nandita Jewels.
The exhibition that catered primarily to women also featured a unique collection of men’s jewellery by Banka- Fine Jewels For Men. We also witnessed a store of Warewood: Bespoke Shoemakers offering a marvelous collection of formal shoes for men.
The painting collection by the Gurugram-based gallery, Splash, displayed their collection of modern and contemporary Indian paintings at the venue. The collection showcased the work of famous artists like Ramesh Gorjala, Thota Vaikuntam and many more. They also exhibited paintings of new artists, giving them the required exposure. The paintings are also available online.
Another fascinating collection of white cotton blankets was a huge crowd puller. The blankets are made from a soft fabric which is manufactured in Ludhiana and had until now only been exported outside India under the brand name Cotton Club India. “It is an anti-static fabric with a certain warmth which makes it special. We are not selling this stuff in India as of now. We have only exported our product to the United States of America,” said G.S. Namdhari from Cotton Club India. The collection also included ladies cotton suit and pure cotton running material.
“We are a 30-year-old brand. We as a brand are looking to capture Delhi-NCR followed by north India for which we are inviting future Geetanjali Studio brand owners to franchise with us. We already have a store in Green Park, New Delhi, which was the first store which we opened. Our expertise is mainly in hair, beauty and makeup. Skin-care and hair are the two main pillars for us. The main names behind the label are Prem and Neetu Israni who are the founders of this venture. We are present at every vintage point of the city and have audiences in lakhs all over the country,” Priyanka from Geetanjali Salon told Guardian 20. Geetanjali was also the styling partner at the event.
The Runway Rising store is situated at Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi