Chennai: The eagerly-awaited South India Fashion Weekend 2003, a two-day fashion show to give exposure to South-based fashion designers, organised by Ideas Unlimited at Le Royal Meridien Hotel here, has been abruptly cancelled.

The reason? Lack of funds to run the show. The event management company is promoted by R Sunil alias Chandru, a Tamil film producer, and M Krishnatmaa, a 27-year-old garment designer.

The announcement was made one hour after the scheduled start of the show, leaving the show ticket-holders (ticket price: Rs 3,000 for two) and the designers, who had paid a sizeable sum as stall rentals besides investing heavily for specially-designed garments, fuming.

As a fire-fighting measure, the official host, Le Royal Meridien, offered dinner to those who were present at the venue and also allowed free entry into its discotheque, Flame. The hotel workers, assembled in good strength, ensured that stage lightning equipment and the garments displayed in the stalls were packed quickly and sent out of the hotel.

“We have lost several lakhs of rupees as the ballrooms and its precincts were booked for two days. We have to see the future course of action,” says A Sennimalai, the joint managing director of Le Royal Meridien.

“We were told that automobile company Mercedes would sponsor the event,” adds M Ramalingam, director, technical services, Le Royal Meridien.

For Hemant Trevedi, the hottest name in the fashion circuit, contracted to conduct the show, the aborted event marred his 20-year-old clean track record. He had brought his team and also a battery of models, who includes famous names like Netra Raghuraman, Shwetha Jaishankar and Sheetal Mallar, as part of the Rs 9-lakh deal.

“The concept — designs by South Indian designers — hooked me and I decided to conduct the show despite my engagements in connection with the Miss India contests. I haven’t met or spoken to Sunil. And this is the first time I am hearing his name,” says a visibly upset Trevedi.

Trevedi says he declined to conduct the annual leather fashion show in Chennai for the first time in nine years as it clashed with Miss India rehearsals in Bangalore. Trevedi is the one who designed the winning wardrobes of beauty queens like Aishwarya Rai (Miss World 1995) and Diana Hayden (Miss World 1998). For the past nine years he is part and parcel of every Miss India contest.

A furious Raghuraman says: “We were told that the show would be invitee-based and there will be no ticket sales. We would have done the show for free had only Krishnatmaa had informed earlier that the proceeds would go for some charitable purpose.”

“In fact Krishnatmaa even threatened that Trevedi had to conduct the show or else his reputation, built over 20 years, will get spoiled. He also shouted at us when asked about the return tickets,” she fumes. Trevedi has conducted around 2,000 fashion shows in his entire two-decade-old career.

“Hereafter I will be more careful while accepting contracts. I should do a credibility audit before accepting contracts,” says Trevedi. Team member and show compere Manasi Scott was the only person who performed a bit at the event. She was the one who announced the show cancellation to those who were present at the venue.

“It is a big loss for the designers,” says Scott. And it is true. The show was supposed to showcase the designs of a couple of young designers like Payal (20) and Shivani Dalal (21).

“I have paid Rs 30,000 as stall rent and also spent around Rs 75, 000 for making garments specially for this occasion,” says Shipra Munglani, who owns Shipra Design Studio.

A weepy Krishnatmaa confined to his hotel room pleading his helplessness for the fiasco. Shifting the blame on the sponsors, he assures settlement of all dues. “The hotel has been paid Rs 2 lakh, and only Rs 80,000 is pending as of now. The ticket holders and the designers who have paid stall rents would also be compensated.” But how and when is a question that remains unanswered.

His business partner, the Tamil film producer Sunil, is nowhere to be seen. Two days before the event Sunil was confident that he would get sponsorship on his own terms and even touted big names like Mercedes and Ford. He also said the show cost would be recovered by selling 500 tickets and rent from 13 stalls.

“There are only three stalls,” says Munglani. Sunil also boasted about his plans to conduct a star night in Canada, taking a big contingent of Tamil film artistes sometime in May 2003.

In retrospect, the South India Fashion Weekend 2003 fiasco has made many in the fashion circuit suspicious of the Chennai-based organisers. And the South-based designers will continue to find it difficult to get a wider exposure to their creativity as big fashion shows will continue to be the prerogative of Mumbai and Delhi, courtesy Ideas Unlimited.