The Accidental VM :): July 2010

Working for a Luxury Fashion Brand is very different from working for a Departmental store. For one, you end up doing very different work here. Its back to basics in some ways but highly challenging in others. Window is not given too much importance. Its all about Merchandise Presentation. But you're involved in other interesting things like Fashion Show stall designing which is very thematic & needs to consistently be different!
I was recently lucky enough to design the couture week's stall. And can I add I had been given exactly 3 days to design and implement the same from scratch. It was an extremely hectic project but crazy fun... I really did get to see the fashion world up close and personal! And I can vouch for the fact that the Maneesh Malhotras and the Sabyasachis of the world are quite cool actually. And as this was my first event, I have no qualms in admitting that I was absolutely star struck and enjoying it! :P

Puneet Nanda, our Director Design, called me into his office on Thursday briefing me with the absolute basics. "Couture week starts on 21st; we have a stall there, I want you to go to the location and have a look tomorrow... We'd like to display our Tarot Collection. It has to look nice. We have already chosen the outfits that you can display. As this is your first set-up; you'll have Pallavi, Shongo and Rajeev helping you; but this is going to be your baby. Let me see what you can come up with!"
Like HELLO! ...and just like that my schedule was cleared for the next five days. My Punjab trip was cancelled... My boss all but, gift wrapped and presented me on a platter to the Director. I was to report to him and do everything he asked me to. Simple and clear.
I spent the remaining day, coming up with different themes. Zen or Glamor... Mystic or Spiritualistic... Real or Virtual... Tarot could be just about anything. And I created mood boards for different themes with elements. My biggest concern was naturally time- so I decided to use readily available elements and reduce printing or producing stuff. When I presented my ideas in our meeting the next day, it was accepted as a reasonable place to start. My theme was given a green signal and I actually started explaining what I wanted where. Next was to get hold of the stuff and make it into a reality. By Monday morning we were kinnda ready to roll. We reached the venue with loads of stuff and started work. 30 hrs later we had a decent stall ready.

The theme is the Devil and the Empress which as you can see, we've combined with Zen (yin-yang). Leave your feedback on what you think about it. You can also take a look directly at the Venue: The Grand Hotel; till the 25th July, 2010, Sunday.

Looking down memory lane, I realized I haven’t made a note of some of the most creative and challenging projects I have been involved in professionally. One such project- my most challenging till date was Rajouri Garden Store opening. My May and June 2007 was spent living and breathing this. Come to think of it, the reason I didn’t blog about it is, firstly I just didn’t blog then; secondly, I was so tired those days I’d simply not have had the energy to do it anyway.

The theme for the opening was “Fashion Capitals of the world”. Paul and Namrata, the backbone of this project were very clear with what they’d do with the VM spaces.

Ground floor was done as Milan: the world of drama, glitter and glamour!