Career No 1

Fashion business in India got a major thrust in the mid-80s with the setting up of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi. Fashion designers like Ritu Beri, JJ Vallaya, Ashish Soni who have made a mark in the world of fashion and still ruling the roost are all products of NIFT, Delhi. Also, the NIFT, Delhi has not merely contributed designers but also created manpower and has given a major technological thrust to the textile industry in the country so much so that fashion has become one of the most sought after profession amongst today’s youth.
Indian fashion and apparel designers are leaving a distinct mark even at the international level and this can be seen from Ritu Beri’s fashion show in Paris where she rubbed shoulders with the best in the business. Indeed the Indian fashion industry has come of age. Moreover, the NIFT has also established centres in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Gandhinagar to give fashion a major boost in the country.
On this gradual alchemy, of fashion into an industry, NIFT director general Gauri Kumar, speaking exclusively to the Education Times said: ‘‘Over the years, NIFT has become a benchmark in fashion business education. While the institute was created to meet the human resource needs of the industry, it has travelled much beyond. Today, the industry looks up to NIFT to provide it with a sense of direction and vision.’’
An IAS officer since 1979, Kumar has a rich experience in the industry and education. Her last posting was as the higher and technical education secretary to the Government of Gujarat. Kumar took over as the administrative head of NIFT a few months ago. ‘‘We’ve done a lot of introspection and indulged in a lot of brainstorming within the institution to set our vision for the next 10 years,’’ said Kumar.
Sharing her vision for the institute, Kumar remarked, ‘‘As a premier national institute, we have certain commitments. Our clientele is not only our students, but the industry and the society at large. We have to not just respond but pre-empt the industry needs. When the entire economy is in a situation of flux, the industry needs people who can foresee the changes you need to make today to survive tomorrow. We would like to produce professionals who have the capacity to foresee changes, interpret them into a plan of action for today and provide a sense of direction to the industry.’’
She felt that the lack of integrated intervention in design, technology, marketing and management is a major hindrance with the fashion industry. ‘‘We’ll engage our students to develop inter-departmental perspective leading to a holistic understanding of the industry.
Our emphasis is going to be on providing basic understanding of design, technology, management and marketing to our students,’’ remarked Kumar. Strongly advocating for developing of facilities for research and development, she said: ‘‘In the coming years, NIFT will move towards research and development and postgraduate studies. We’ll undertake projects of social relevance and in the field of cluster-development, which offers hands-on experience to our students.’’
Kumar hinted that NIFT may look for the deemed university status in order to offer degree programmes against the existing diplomas. ‘‘Certain institutions recognise our diplomas as equivalent to a under graduate degree but a majority do not.
This limits the future academic options for our students interested in pursuing post graduate degree. I would like our students to be empowered, rather than be constrained because they’ve a diploma and not a degree,’’ she reasoned. Kumar categorically refused any expansion plans, saying, ‘‘Time is ripe for us to consolidate the NIFT equity and its strength, across its seven centres.’’
Refuting the myth that fashion is all about glamour, Kumar quipped, ‘‘A part of fascination for fashion arises out of its glamour. But glamour is just a show window like the icing on the cake. The cake is much more substantive than what you see at the surface. There’s a lot of hard work and slogging in the profession. A serious professional cannot survive just on the basis of glamour.’’