Minisha Lamba, Sonal Chauhan walk the ramp to support talents of North East Region

Bollywood stars Minisha Lamba, Sonal Chauhan with others walked the ramp to support and express their solidarity to the talents of North East Region during the inauguration ceremony of North East Design Fest held at Delhi Thursday, Sept 19.

North East Design Fest - a mega four day festival comprising of Fashion shows, Cultural program and Exhibitions of Handloom, Handicrafts, Jute, MSME sector of the North East Region kicks off  in New Delhi today. The aim of the festival is to create an interaction of ideas, provide an international standard marketing forum and a unique platform to showcase NE India’s textiles and artisans who have come not only with their handlooms, but also- Jute, Khadi, Coirboard, Assam Silk and handicrafts as well. The leading institute of Assam, North East Institute of Fashion Technology (NEIFT) is  organizing North East Design Fest which will be ongoing till 22 September, 2013.

Day one of North East Design Fest witnessed three fashion shows highlighting Handloom and Handicrafts Ensemble by designers Meghna Rai Medhi, Aji Semy Rengma and Mona Pali. The inaugural performance of the festival was a Sattriya Dance performed by Sanjukta Barooah. Rock band group Featherhead performed folk & rock fusion.

North East Region of the country with the eight beautiful, exotic and to an extent unexplored states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and  Sikkim has a strong history of its traditional textiles and handicrafts which forms an integral element of  its socio- economic structure of the societies.

The festival will act as a curtain raiser to showcase the talents of Designers, Performing artists, Artisans, Craftsmen, Weavers coming from different parts of the versatile North East region. People of the capital will get an opportunity to interact with this wonderful talented young visionaries and this shall create a bridge of understanding and mutual growth of thought process between NER and mainstream.

North East Design Fest was inaugurated by  Srimati Pranatee Phukan, Minister of Handloom and Textiles Government of Assam.

Delhi Fashion connoisseurs rarely gets an opportunity to witness talented designers from NER like Aji Semy, Meghna Rai Medhi, Boney Darang, Rinzing Choden, Charlee Lalthlenmawia, Melody Runremsangi, Vianney Nongrum, etc who will create kaleidoscopic magic in psychedelic coloured weaved textiles and crafts of the rich traditional design methodology of NER.

To create a fusion of Pan India and NER, designers such as- Meghna Rai Medhi, Boney Darang, Charlee Lalthlenmawia, Monapali, Agnimitra, Gauranga have been roped in to  display their collections along with the NER designers. Bollywood stars Minisha Lamba, Sonal Chauhan with others walked the ramp supporting and expressing their solidarity to the talents of North East.

Mr Vikram Rai Medhi, Event Director said, “Eighty number of stalls being erected at Select CITYWALK which will showcase and create a mini North East for cross section of the society of Delhi and this will create an element of positive awareness and curiosity of our region which will thereby also play a role in the development in the Tourism sector. We appeal to all culture loving people of Delhi and the media to wholeheartedly support this humble and sincere effort closer to the mainstream.”

The festival is presented by Ministry of Textiles with the support of Ministry of MSME, Ministry of Home Affairs - departments of Handloom and Textiles of govt. of Assam & govt. of Arunachal Pradesh in association with Select CITYWALK.