I love the excitement innovations and the fashionable buzz that surrounds every season of Lakmé Fashion Week and since it is the pioneer of fashion events, there is always that element of constant change and amazing new additions that create the glitz and glamour for this important happening.

Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2012 is going to be another path breaking five days that I am eagerly looking forward to. Just imagine 83 designers will showcase their best work for the coming season, while the seven Gen Next designers once again mentored by Aki Narula will dazzle on the ramp and move onto the successful path of the fashion business like many of their predecessors have done. The Gen Next Show is the hunting ground for the best new designers and Lakmé Fashion Week pioneered this concept in 2006.

Last year The Source was buzzing with activity with media and buyers making a beeline for it. This season the 20 ramp shows will keep everyone glued to the venue.

Over 40 ramp shows will keep the connoisseurs of style shuttling between the Main Show Area and The Source as they make their selections that will go on the racks next season.

The Indian Textile Day curated by top textile and fashion expert, Krishna Mehta is something I want to visit and observe carefully. After all the distinct beauty of Indian fashion is the traditional textile treasures which in turn set the country’s designers apart from the rest of the world.

The sixth edition of the Fashion Workshop will see a lot of brain storming amongst the industry’s fashion stalwarts while the live streaming of LFW TV will keep the world informed about this great fashion event.

The sexy, glamorous and very talented Nina Manuel has been a favourite TV anchor and she is going to keep the momentum of Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2012 in top gear as she interviews celebs and designers.

The show I am also looking forward to   by New York’s whiz kid, Bibhu Mohapatra who grew up in Orissa and is causing a fashion riot in the USA with his superb evening wear. Launched in 2009, Bibhu Mohapatra won the Women’s Apparel 2010 Rising Star Award after which many accolades followed. It’s great to hear that an Indian designer is shaking the American fashion world.

Of course the best has to be kept for the last. Rohit Bal, India’s Master of Haute Couture Chic will leave the country awestruck with his Grand Finale presentation as the curtain comes down on this spectacular show. At Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2011 Rohit Bal opened the event with his off-site show titled “Shaanti” which left the audience deliriously enchanted. On March 6^th Rohit Bal’s Grand Finale for Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2012 will undoubtedly surpass all his previous presentations.

I am counting the days for March 2 2012. Please let Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2012 begin!!!

Designers have brilliant inspiration (Banyan tree), creative design aesthetic (weaving wooden carving into the garments) and The Gen Next category at Lakme Fashion Week is exceptionally important and where I have witnessed many a miracle. There is so much young talent that needs to be supported and nurtured to ensure we are building brands and businesses for the future. Last night I poured over the sketches and blogs of all Gen Next designers and it felt great to see out-of-the-box ideas within the realm of wearibility. Here’s a guide to what you can expect!

TANYA SHARMA

I am a white shirt addict. Crisp button-down white shirts are a wardrobe staple and I feel every girl must have at least one. So when Tanya Sharma told me she would be showcasing white shirts with a touch of fabulous I knew it would be an interesting showing! Let’s be honest ladies: we’re all looking for a way to stand out from the pack! “I have taken the classic white shirt and infused it with street wear elements reminiscent of Pop culture. The aim is to transcend the conservative look into a space that is subtly influenced by genres like hip hop, rock and roll and street dance. I have some classic button-down shirts in bright colors and floral prints too”, she tells me. You can be sure now that you won’t see a dozen girls in the same white shirt and that’s a huge plus in my book!

MEGHA GARG

She has wooed NIFT and courted Central Saint Martin’s. Now, Megha Garg has her eyes set on Lakme Fashion Week. Her strongest weapon? Digital prints on cocktail dresses! Hey it takes a special kind of lady to carry off the strong digital prints that left their mark on the autumn winter 2011-12 catwalks and not all of us have that je ne sais quoi. This season Megha attempts a softer-edged look: “I have designed dresses with carefully placed colors digitally printed on the fabric. One of the dresses has been made with five layers of fabric and the silhouette of another follows the contour of the body”. Most editors feel the popularity of digital prints lies in optical gratification. Won’t you spontaneusly smile if you look in the mirror and are greeted with a colourful burst of patterns? There is also a touch of luxe about an attention-grabbing look that cocks a sartorial snook at the style police… so it will be interesting to see how Megha garg showcases this trend!

MANOJ AND VINOD

How many young commercial appeal (convertible versatile garments) this season? Possibly only designer duo Manoj and Vinod: the latest up-and-comers to showcase at Lakme Fashion Week! “Commercially, the collection should be successful as it is designed with low-priced raw fabric and is also versatile as each garment can be worn in more than two ways! We have taken Infinity as our theme… inspired from the Banyan tree,” they tell me. Look out for the rope jacket that is fully hand weaved with wooden carving and the handkerchief draped garments!

ARCHANA RAO

NIFT and Parsons School of Design, New York graduate Archana Rao certainly knows her menswear from valuable experiece at an export house and should have no trouble giving it a girlish twist! She couldn’t have chosen a seasonal better theme! Menswear-inspired looks dominated the past few seasons and the trend meter is now shifting to a hybrid of boyish look-meets-girlish grace. “This collection is inspired by menswear and pays close attention to accidental design like crisp folds and ombre effects. High-tech fabrics are contrasted with traditional textiles for a deliberate course feel and structured clothing appears fluid with the use of oversized garments and soft palette”, says Archana. Indeed, there is something appealingly easy about the looks in her sketches—you might want to start making a little more space in your closet now!

SHIKHA AND VINITA

There is nothing simple about this designer duo’s collection. Pushing the envelope on their very first Fashion Week outing, it would be interesting to see how these girls bring the complex multi-layered theme to life. Just ask Shikha and Vinita and the excitement is plain: “We like using simple materials and teasing out-of-the-box designs out of them! The designs must be wearable and at the same time take a leap in aesthetics. Using the butterfly metamorphosis as a theme, our collection is an allegory of the transition and creation of a new style of design and sub culture…” Look out for the knot dress under a cape that glows in dark signifying the possibilities that the future holds for the butterfly being formed within the chrysalis and the cocktail dress with a structured back and shoulders and a sheer draped lower,which represent a developed butterfly!

YOGESH CHAUDHARY

This young man has several credits. After graduating from NIFT with a specialization in knitwear and Masters at NID, he was awarded ‘Emerging Designer’ at Van Heusen Men’s Week and was the first Asian to bag Supreme Award at the World of Wearable Art, New Zealand. His winning garment ‘Loops’ (2010) and ‘Juxta’ (2011) were acquired for display at the World of Wearable Art Museum! “I am a firm believer of wearability in fashion. My theme is “In A Box”: a ready-to-wear line of separates, dresses and few Indian pieces focusing on box-pleats with stripes. Since I am a big fan of crafts, one of my outfits pays a tribute to the mirror work technique from Gujarat and is made solely of mirrors while another favorite is a dress crafted from the finest cotton in powder-blue stripes and asymmetric hem with a box-pleated trail and in it is almost homage to ’60s futurism,” he tells me with a gleam in his eyes.

Remember these names, people! Don’t miss their incredible designs!