IIJW Combines Glamour, Social Cause to Grab Headlines

(IDEX Online News) – The India International Jewellery Week (IIJW), which kicked off yesterday (Sunday) in Mumbai, has already made a media impact in India by combining a high fashion and glamour quotient with a strong social cause.

At yesterday’s inaugural event, some 40 celebrities, including popular Bollywood actresses walked the ramp for Gitanjali Jewels in support of the Beti (daughter) campaign against female foeticide.

The campaign is supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Many appeared on the ramp with their daughters, while one prominent actress walked the ramp with her mother. The combination of the cause with its high-profile ambassadors has made a splash in the Indian media.

The five-day IIJW showcases the talents of 35 jewelry designers and design houses and has two specific objectives. First, it is intended to demonstrate to global jewelry consuming markets that the Indian gem and jewelry industry has moved downstream and is no longer merely an offshore production center, possessing the capability to generate design and style trends in any part of the world.

The second objective is to create a sustained media buzz about jewelry in India, where a range of other luxury goods is jostling one another for a share of the consumer’s discretionary spending.

With big design and brand names like Amrapali, which also adorns Hollywood celebrities at red carpet events around the world, as well as a slew of well-known export manufacturers, the IIJW has come out strong in pursuit of its first objective.

With the likes of Tanishq, India’s leading jewelry brand, and Gitanjali, the fastest growing brand, the IIJW has gone a long way towards achieving its second objective.