But a year is a long time. A lot can happen within a year, more so in the mercurial world of fashion. Today, at a similar press conference to announce a rival fashion week to be held from February 24 to 28 (Kolkata Fashion and Lifestyle Week) Yudhajit Dutta, feigns ignorance when we ask him about the obvious clash of date with KFW which is scheduled to be held in the last week of February too. “I don’t know about any other fashion week apart from this one,” shrugs Dutta. Of course we don’t buy that. We know that a few months ago Dutta had a “difference of opinion” with the “top brass” of the Mindscapes groups of companies and decided to part ways with them.

Dutta’s fashion week will be held under the banner of Purple People Management. The much maligned PC Chandra Greens, where the first Kolkata Fashion Week was held, is the chosen venue for the first edition of KFLW too. Does that mean that the first edition of the KFLW will be plagued with dry toilets, impossibly cloistered venues and mosquito menace too? “A lot of money has been pumped into this event and we will ensure that KFLW is a fashion week that not only Kolkata, but the entire country is proud of,” says Dutta. John Abraham was in the city to announce the event and he had only good things to say about Dutta and the fashion event. “KFLW is actually a platform to promote young designers from this part of the country, who don’t get as much exposure as their Mumbai and Delhi counterparts. I feel Yudi (Dutta) is doing a great job,” says Abraham.