Pearl Academy Portfolio 2015 - a Fashion Extravaganza

Creativity, fashion and glamour...the coming together of these three elements makes for an eye catching extravaganza, and in the week gone by, I got an interesting opportunity to cover one such intricately planned and executed extravaganza - Portfolio 2015, the annual graduating event of the renowned Pearl Academy. Held at NSIC Exhibition Ground, Okhla, New Delhi, Pearl Academy Portfolio 2015 marked the entry of trained students into the professional realm of creative businesses. Spread across 3 days, the event had lots of fashion and fun packed together, with graduating students not just putting up their best creations on display but also sharing their vision about their area of expertise. And icing on the Portfolio 2015 cake was the presence of ace fashion designer Manish Malhotra, who graced the event with his presence and shared words of professional wisdom with the graduating students.

Day 1 at Portfolio 2015 was spent taking in the engaging catalogues, art pieces and captivating designer items created by the students from all the graduating batches across the 4 schools of the Pearl Academy - School of Fashion, Styling and Textiles; School of Communication, Media & Film; School of Design; and School of Creative Business.

This exhibition put together by the students was a treat for the eyes - from lovely clothes with beautiful patterns and motifs, to quirky stationary items to recycled products, every single exhibit had something unique to offer.

While the designer clothes had everyone yearning to own them, other artistic creations were no less attractive. There were a lot of items that were high on the quirk element - coffee mugs, cushions, little trinkets and home décor display items were some such stuff that caught everyone's fancy. Besides these various innovative art installations too kept the visitors engaged.

Day 2 of Portfolio 2015 was all about panel discussions, grand fashion shows and of course the Guest of Honour, designer Manish Malhotra. The excitement about his visit was pretty apparent and when he finally arrived to address the students, it was a proud moment for both the students and the faculty. A superbly put-together fashion show was what followed next where students got the opportunity to showcase their designing talent before Manish Malhotra.

At Portfolio 2015, while the creative brilliance of graduating students left everyone mesmerised, their passion and professional approach towards the event and towards putting the exhibits together was something that impressed me the most. Indeed this professionalism together with their innate creativity and training at Pearl Academy will go a long way in establishing them as successful professionals in their chosen fashion domain.

About Pearl Academy

Founded in 1993, Pearl Academy is India’s largest private institution in design, fashion and creative businesses, and delivers over 30 uniquely designed under-graduate, post-graduate and professional programs through its 4 campuses in Delhi, NOIDA, Jaipur and Mumbai.

Pearl Academy was earlier known as ‘Pearl Academy of Fashion’. Over the past few years, this brand has evolved from being known as a cradle to fashion designers to India’s largest higher education institute offering courses in design, fashion and creative businesses. These courses are broadly categorized under 4 Schools: 

• School of Fashion, Styling & Textiles
• School of Design
• School of Communication, Media & Film
• School of Creative Business

PORTFOLIO 2015 – Portfolio is Pearl Academy’s annual graduating event where all the students from the graduating batches of various courses across 4 schools showcase their final projects in the form of exhibitions, presentations and fashion shows.

Future of Travel and Fashion in the App-only World

Long winding mountain roads, rain drenched ancient temples and churches, bustling gurudwaras and quaint hillside villages – the month of April was spent soaking all this and more as I travelled across different states, hopping from one bus to another with my little rucksack in tow. What made travel by public transport easier was the fact that I had packed light, deciding to give my laptop and bulky DSLR a break and instead opting to rely solely on my smartphone for all my camera and internet needs. And trust me my trusty phone never let me down! From capturing treasurable travel moments, to helping with the directions while on unfamiliar trails to taking care of my shopping whims on the go, my smartphone was my most trusted and sought after companion while on the road.

'App-only' is the way to go

Come to think of it, one cannot thank technology enough for encapsulating so much of the world in these small wonders called smartphones. Imagine, there are thousands and thousands of applications in there to take care of all our big and small needs. From our newspapers, to our favourite online stores – it’s all in there! And the way technology is moving, the apps-only world is not far away. Why, many web portals are  looking at wrapping up their web presence and opting for mobile-only mode, thanks to our ever increasing reliance on our smartphones and their growing popularity all over the world.

In this Myntra, India’s biggest fashion retailer has already taken the lead and announced the decision to close its web and mobile websites and operate its business solely through mobile application or app. A very visionary decision, one must say given the huge shift of young buyers from websites to mobile apps. If I were to take myself as an example, I am glued to my phone for some work or the other for my phone is my multitasking device, from answering mails, to reading top news of the day to microblogging, to posting photos on Instagram – my phone is my most used gadget. Now in between all this multitasking, why bother to turn on the laptop to log on to my favourite shopping site when the site’s app is right there on my phone. Shopping right through the smartphone app not just makes the process more quick and convenient but also saves me the hassle of putting my other tasks on hold.

'App-only' is the way to go

There’s no doubt that with their decision to go app-only Myntra has set off a new trend in the Indian online shopping scenario. This trend that will most definitely be picked up by other players in the eCommerce domain in the coming times, for given our increasing usage of smartphones, the mobile-only approach works in favour of both the buyers and the retailers, as both of them will have their efforts concentrated on just one shopping platform, rather than juggling web portal, mobile websites and mobile apps simultaneously.