KATHMANDU:

The designers are ready, so are the backstage teams for the Sunsilk Nepal Fashion Week. As Shailaja Adhikary, MD of IEC Institute of Art and Fashion, put it, “We couldn’t do a fashion show without them.

So, meet the persons who man the green room — Bobby Maharjan, Rita Shrestha and Uttara Acharya. They are the ones who get the models ready in record time of “three and half minutes” for each sequence. In order to make their work more organised they have divided the groups into two sections so there is less of a bungling.

A rush job, but they say they are prepared for the fashion event of the year.

So are we, echoes the backstage management team of Sudip Rajak, Nabin Pakhrin and Hariram Jadhav. They are the ones responsible for maintaining the “time” and the last-minute checks. In short, they are the conductors of the symphony called fashion show. They calculate that they perhaps just get one minute after the models are shooed from the green room to check everything in place.

Goof ups always happen, and that when presence of mind and experience count, say Rajak, who a veteran of SNFW.

And of course, we cannot forget the makeup team lead by Sunita Sabharwal of Shahnaz Husain Herbal Skin and Hair Care. She is all praise for her team of 15 girls who she says have been practising different makeup and hair arrangements for the five days.

The hairstyles and makeup have been planned according to the sequences like for instance one day will be straight hair, next day could be pony tails or roller-set, and yet another day could be the wet look. And even the makeup is according to the theme set by choreographer Kshitiza like gold and silver tones or copper, smokey eyes... and of course tatoos (stick ons).

Everything is in place. Everyone is just waiting for the day to arrive. And a request from Pakhrin, “Come to see the designs, not just the models. Many times people just come to see ‘flesh’, do respect the work and time the designers have put into their collections.”

It’s a date with you all — at Hyatt, August 10-14. See you!