It's more than just 'Melodrama'!

Santhi Kathiravan the brain behind the popular 'Trends' exhibition has come up with another extravagant shopping experience 'Melodrama'. She informs that the concept behind starting the new venture is to provide women with new fashion trends which are affordable.

Excerpts from an interview:

Tell us about your new exhibition.

There are about 65 designers from across the country. We have majorly focused on the wedding collections. This time we are hoping that the exhibition turns out to be good.

Why did you name it as Melodrama?

There is a lot of drama happening at exhibitions, everybody poses for a picture here and it is a different kind of experience.

Everyone needs some kind of attention, and so I feel that it is kind of drama that is happening and that is the reason I named as Melodrama.

What is the idea behind conducting these exhibitions?

I started exhibitions 10 years back and at that time I used to stay in Vizag and whenever I wanted to shop we would go to Bangalore and there were yearly exhibitions in Hyderabad.

Now one cannot wait for a year to buy new clothes; so I had the idea of doing this work. But then I was stuck with my professional duties and I could not implement the idea. Soon when I shifted to Hyderabad for work, I met with an accident and I was at home for six months.

In that gap, I felt that I needed to implement the idea of a fashion exhibition. So I quit my job and concentrated on this work and started my entrepreneurial journey.

How do you coordinate with the brands to exhibit?

Initially, it was tough to get designers on one stage, now we have a team of people who looks over the contacts of the designers. We analyse them and bring them to our exhibitions.

We have designers from Hyderabad, who are showcasing their designs in the exhibitions and it is kind of evolution that is happening with fashion.

What changes do you see in the exhibitions now and then?

Before people did not have an idea of what was sold. They picked up whatever was available. Now people have 100 options and they know what design to choose and also accessorise their outfit.

Earlier, as fashion sense in people was just growing they could not reap benefits from the exhibition. Now fashion knowledge has increased and people choose the best deals. I can say that it is a win-win situation now.

What challenges did you face?

Initially, it was a big challenge to start this as the media was limited at that time. Back then we used to depend on the database and put up banners across the city, which was challenging than compared to what is happening now.

Most of the people were not aware of the concept of the exhibition. Earlier the crowd was around only 1,500 and now we can see around 4,000 people coming to the exhibition.