MUMBAI: Now educational institutions are latching on to a 360-degree marketing "mantra" around an event that can benefit students, publications, TV channels and corporate entities too!

Wigan & Leigh College, one of the largest government funded college for higher education in the UK, held it's annual fashion event Chimera 2003 at Mumbai's JW Marriott Hotel on 3 June 2003. A panel of judges also announced the names of the winners of the Wigan & Leigh FTV Talent Hunt - namely Gurpreet Nagi, Samina Sheikh, Tanvi Lokhandwala and Vishal Gogri.

Fashion channel FTV was the exclusive electronic partner and would feature the happening on it's Indian programming feed. The other sponsors for the fashion evening included Femina India ,Oobe, Intergold, Citiwalk, Roopam, Spykar, VLCC Personal Care and Shaw Wallace.

With FTV supporting the event, it wasn't much of a surprise to see leading models such as Jesse Randhawa, Katrina Kaif, Candice Pinto and Roxanne walking down the ramp. These models showcased the exquisite designs of the new breed of designers - nine of who competed for top honours.

The winners for the Wigan & Leigh Fashion TV talent hunt were chosen at the event. The final nine shortlisted candidates were chosen after a series of personal interviews, aptitude tests and design submissions extending over a six month period. The panel of judges included luminaries from the industry such as Neeta Lulla, Anita Dongre (designers), Viren Shah (Roopam proprietor) and Priyanka Sinha (Society magazine editor). The following students walked away with top honours on 3 June 2003:

* Gurpreet Nagi - who developed creations around the theme of "Vicious Dreamz". Nagi's area of specialisation includes illustration and her area of interest includes surface ornamentation.

* Samina Sheikh - who developed creations around the theme of "Cristal De La Manche". Her areas of interest include illustration, designing, styling and surface embellishments. Her area of specialisation is bridal wear.

* Tanvi Lokhandwala - who developed creations around the theme of "Hidden Gardens". Her areas of interest include women's wear-westerns and ethnic, surface ornamentation, fashion illustration and styling. Her area of specialisation is women's western wear and ethnic wear.

* Vishal Gogri - who developed creations around the theme of "Back to the Dance Floor". His area of specialisation is sports wear, formal and casual western outfits. His areas of interest include illustration, pattern making, designing and styling.

Speaking to indiantelevision.com, Gogri said: "It was a great platform to showcase our talent. The presence of FTV and other TV channels added to the entire environment and provided ideal settings for young and talented students. My creations were inspired from the fact that lights are very important in the context of a night club. They differentiate it from the rest."

The scholarships included prize money that was given to deserving students in order to enable them to take up fashion designing as a career option.

A press release quoted Wigan & Leigh director Vinay Pasricha as saying: "This is the second offering of Chimera that our students have presented in Mumbai. I am extremely proud of them. Our students have put in a lot of research and hard work into the creation of these garments and the designs show an aesthetic mix of creativity and passion." During the show, Pasricha was busy playing host to "page three" types such as Pooja Bhatt and Rahul Dev amongst others.

In India, Wigan & Leigh has centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Kolkata. It offers courses in management, advertising, graphic design, communications, fashion technology, apparel merchandising and media.