These are small but unmistakable signs that India is catching up with the western luxury bandwagon ? right down to getting its own magalogue, a portmanteau word encompassing magazine and catalgoue. Valaya Update (VU, and pronounced ?view?), the ?Inhouse Style Annual from the House of Valaya? can claim to be a trendsetter in this category as leading designer JJ Valaya launched VU over a party with ?friends and colleagues?, as he put it, recently.
So what does he hope to achieve by launching this in India? ?It will be an annual feature that I plan to have around every October,? he says. He explains that it follows the international pattern in its category and brings to the people a wrap of the activities by his company in the past year ? its highlights, major trends, reflecting on the past and planning ahead. Of course it deals entirely in luxury and will be sent to high-end clients. VU is not a catalogue, but it does bring the ramp coutour between covers, especially collections that are rarely seen outside of it. The first edition is slightly different, admits Valaya. So there are sections like Design Diary, which captures the early years of the designers (read early NIFT batches). There is a tribute to Rohit Khosla, whom Valaya calls the ?father of modern Indian fashion and my creative mentor?. His collections from the two previous fashiion weeks are present, and VU, as with most magalogues, is not on sale. ?I see it developing into a collector?s issue,? says Valaya, who has got 5,000 copies printed. He says he is a great upholder of the printed word, which is also a reason he chose to opt for this format, to bring fashion to the elite. Given the excellent production qualities, matt tones, and fronted by models and store details, it will surely be an annual to look forward to.
