Celebrate British Bangladeshi fashion

The inaugural British Bangladesh Fashion Week (BBFW) will take place between 8th and 13th October 2012.  The week will celebrate and promote Bangladeshi fashion arts and culture and will champion the relationship between the UKand Bangladesh. It will showcase the vibrant and colourful talent of designers that are influenced by and/or share a Bangladeshi heritage.

The key objectives of the week are to promote:

•Bangladesh, its arts & culture through the use of fashion;

•Bangladeshi fashion, designers & its fashion industry;

•British Bangladeshi designers & the fashion industry;

•the role of the Bangladeshi garment/textile industry;

•British fashion designers in Bangladesh.

BBFW promises an eclectic mix of traditional, modern and fusion designers who will be exhibiting exclusive fashion lines reserved to be launched at BBFW 2012. It will bring designers together from up and coming British labels as well as Bangladeshi fashion trend setters. As well as designers, BBFW will bring the best talent in make-up, music, dance and choreography and will draw other such talent from the Desi fashion scene.

Future BBFWs will take place twice a year in London and the organisers intend to make sure it takes its rightful place in the British fashion calendar. A companion show will be held in Bangladesh promoting the best of British and British Bangladeshi designers to what is becoming a fast emerging fashion industry in Bangladesh. With both the London show and Bangladesh show, organisers strongly believe that BBFW will be a major event in the international fashion calendar.

Organisers have chosen to hold the inaugural event in East London, as not only is it home to the largest Bangladesh community outside Bangladesh, but it is also home to the chic and trendy fashion and art houses in Spitalfields, Shoreditch and Hoxton.

The three day extravaganza will be held at the decadent 1930s art deco Grade 2 palace that is the Troxy, East London. With a capacity of over 2,600, it is located between Docklands and the City and has fantastic transport links to the rest of London and beyond.

In its hay day East London was at the heart of the textile industry and has now reinvented itself as a fashionable and chic playhouse for all that is creative.

BBFW is committed to support and promote good causes and the organisers are pleased to be working with an excellent charity partner, Restless Beings, who share their passion for empowering communities. BBFW will be an excellent platform to promote the charity and the brilliant work it does. A percentage of all profits will be donated to the charity after the event.

Aspiring designers find it is difficult to enter the mainstream fashion industry and have a successful career. Due to cultural barriers, it is even more difficult for a British Bangladeshi to make it into the mainstream in this highly competitive industry.

BBFW will sponsor two lucky aspiring designers to further their studies in fashion. By working closely they will ensure that these two students are not only helped with finances but also mentored and guided through their carers. Who knows, maybe in a few years time BBFW will be showcasing their designs to the world!