WHILE there was a lot of rah-rah for Indian fashion and Naomi Campbell (above) stole the show at the charity fashion event for the 26/11 terror victims, the bite of the global downturn was acutely felt at the fashion shows in Delhi and Mumbai.

With 175 domestic and international buyers turning up, Indian fashion designers were trying to cope with their shrinking expectations as the downturn continues to whack budgets.

Ms Wendy Dias, partner and senior vice president of Indiva, a Toronto store offering Indian fashion labels, has a budget of $200,000 for this season. She told The Times Of India: "My budget has come down by 25 to 30 per cent. Customers are looking at lower budgets themselves. I am looking at designers who can cooperate with me to accommodate the present economic climate."

"However, designers are reluctant to do so, possibly as they don't have the economic support themselves."

Designer Nitin Bal Chauhan told Reuters that he has lowered his prices and cut up to 40 per cent of his profit margin: "The whole world is going on sale right now. As a designer, I think I should be more considerate and cut down on my profit margin and still make sure people can enjoy fashion."

Other designers have cut back on their production volumes as well-heeled clients hesitate to pull their platinum and gold cards out of the IT bags.

Some designers have experimented with high and low fashion to suit their customers' increasingly waning budgets. Kiran Uttam Ghosh even came up with a collection called Frugality Is The New Black. "I've combined high-street cheap leggings with very luxe jackets," she said.

According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, the country's fashion industry was expected to grow to Rs750 crores by 2012 from Rs250 crores (Rs 1 crore = S$300,000) in 2007.

That estimate has not been revised yet. But Mr Sunil Sethi, president of the Fashion Design Council of India, admitted that its five-day event in New Delhi had been affected by the tough economic climate.

"It will be less... definitely not more than last year due to the recessionary trend in the market," he told Reuters.

The silver lining -- a small one for the moment -- is that while the Western buyers are watching their wallets like hawks, there is still a substantial demand for Indian designs in the Middle East, reported the Business Standard.

Ms Hiba Al-Ateeqi, managing director of Darusha, a store in Kuwait, has a budget of $100,000 despite having last season's clothes still occupying rack space in her store. She said: "People do have money for quality."

There is even demand in financially-troubled Dubai, according to Ms Tina Tahiliani, head of fashion house Ensemble and sister of designer Tahun Tahiliani. She claims West Asia continues to be a big market. Fashion designer Abhijeet Khanna, who debuted four seasons ago, said: "I sell in Kuwait, Dubai, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and all these buyers are still ordering the same quantities."

This story was first published in tabla!