Bhubaneswar Sets A Capital Trend In Fashion

Bhubaneswar Sets A Capital Trend In Fashion

Bhubaneswar has been emerging as the one-stop point for fashion in recent times with experts from the field and especially designers envisioning to promote Odisha’s traditional handlooms and textiles in the country and abroad.

As such, the evolution of fashion entrepreneurship in the city along with fusions and the scope for aspiring talents took centre stage during a panel discussion featuring fashion experts, designers, choreographers and models of Bhubaneswar at BOCCA café as part of the ‘Thaw Thursday’ talk series.

As part of the discussion on ‘Bhubaneswar: A Fashion Capital’, the panellists for the evening including Sharmistha Panda, Rudrangi Sundaray, Jagrutee Das, Siddharth Das, Nishi Padma and John Ajay discussed the present scenario as well as the way forward for the fashion industry in the city.

The panellists said that over the past few years, the Odisha fashion industry has been in the limelight by promoting and repackaging the state’s rich textile and handloom charm to cater to trend-lovers.

Seeing the rapid growth of the fashion sector, talented youths too are keen in trying their luck in various parts to work and showcase their innovations. Be it modelling, outfit designing, fashion choreography or set designing, the industry is also welcoming them with open arms.

However, the guests for the evening felt that there was still a lot to explore and much more to be done to promote local talents.

“For the fashion shows and events we conduct in Odisha, we call models from outside to showcase our creations. We have our talents here only, and they need to be groomed. In order to shine, they need to come out and go through the varnishing process,” said John Ajay, a fashion choreographer and director at Bhubaneswar Runway Week.

“When I moved back to Odisha and started working here, Zubina Ali, Jyotsna Das and many such people from the fashion industry were a great support and source of encouragement. For the present time, we have to encourage new people. We got to hold more workshops and trainings for young talents who want to pursue a career in any section of the fashion industry,” he added.