New Delhi:
American designer Kenneth Cole feels that though the western market is not yet ready to accept traditional Indian fashion, it is open to fusion wear.
Cole, 59, who is on his maiden visit to India, recently launched his store in the capital. He says traditional Indian wear with western influence is slowly catching up in the US and other countries.
"The rest of the world is getting inspired by Indian wear as there is a lot of creativity involved. But traditional Indian wear does not yet have a market in the west. So a middle path like a fusion of Indian and western wear could be big. It is much more comfortable and the people can understand it better," Cole said in an interview.
Cole is also the chairman of amfAR, the foundation for AIDS research, which is organising the inaugural fundraising event in Mumbai tonight.
The event will be attended by several Bollywood and Hollywood luminaries like Sharon Stone, Hillary Duff, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, among others. Pop star Kesha will also perform at the gala.
Cole said "Basic Instinct" star Stone and Oscar-winning actress Duff needed no persuasion and were both more than willing to come to India to attend the event.
"I was not much involved in bringing them to India. But they were very willing to come her for the gala. They have earlier visited the event at Cannes and so I feel they know what we aim for," Cole said.
"Both the actresses have been shooting but still decided to come down to be part of the gala. I feel it is the coming together of Hollywood and Bollywood. There will also be a fashion show by several Indian designers like Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla, Tarun Tahiliani and Rohit Bal," he added.
