Girlfriends rack up sales

[1]

They are young and pretty, and unlike their older social predecessors these new “It” girls let their work talk louder than their social presence around town.

These young ladies in the capital don’t just believe in socialising for nothing, they are smart enough to utilise their contacts for business. With common interests in fashion and friendship, young girl friends in their 20s are now taking their bonding to another level by hosting private sales, exhibitions and trunk shows.
The “by invite only” private fashion sales are not the run-of-the-mill dos, according to Sonam Pall, co-founder, SNS (Shreya and Sonam) exhibition. She says, “When we host private fashion viewings, it’s mostly at private residences in posh colonies. The best part is that you can choose and invite people who you want to invite, and since it’s our residence or in luxury hotels, almost everyone who comes buys something or the other. We try to keep such events high on class, and stick to our private guest list of friends and acquaintances.”
Her friend Shreya Ramkrishna Dalmia adds, “Both of us did our Masters in finance from the same university. Being from business families we have always had entrepreneur skills. We started this project three years back. We fly down designers from Pakistan for our trunk shows and soon we’ll be combining international designers to make it a global affair. It’s a public affair, so the crowd is niche and we get serious buyers for western wear by Indian designers.”
Shunam Gulati and Hema Wadhwa, organsiers of Blinggbazaar, a lifestyle exhibition, reveal that the idea behind this event was to highlight young talent and present something new to the buyers. Shunam Gulati informs, “Hema and I met through some common friends and we decided to do something for new designers. We had handpicked designers and carefully categorised them into different verticals. We also decided to collaborate with NGO Lakshyam and had an auction of designer products for Uttarakhand relief fund. The response was very good and since it was a niche event the crowd that turned up was also very classy.”
Similarly, two young Delhi-based entrepreneurs Sharnamli Mehra Adhar and Mitali Wadhwa also collaborated recently to host the Pink Post It, a luxury trunk event, and got many labels under one roof. Sharnamli, who is a graduate from Warwick, met Mitali in college and since then the two have been friends. Speaking about the show, Sharnamli says, “After spending five years in the fashion industry and working for numerous brands, I wanted to do something of my own. I had a Masters degree in Marketing & Strategy, so I decided to take the plunge and plan a trunk show for promoting innovative designs at affordable prices. My friend Mitali, who is the co-founder of the Pink Post It, has her own fashion label Twenty Seven by Mitali and she had worked in branding and events earlier, so we brainstormed and came up with this idea.”