uCherry, a fashion event company by the vivacious duo Edson Martins and Falon D’Cruz is climbing the charts of the fashion world. This, a label and a loyalty programme is what is keeping their hands full
The name provokes the mind to conjure up an image of a shinyred cherry, perhaps delicately balanced upon the equally luscious red lips of amodel. And this is probably what Edson Martins and Falon D’cruz wanted toconvey with their brand name uCherry, a fashion event company that theylaunched in September 2008. Besides organising ‘fashion shows with adifference’, as they put it, they undertake projects related to fashion, suchas photo shoots, choreography, styling etc. This 20-something gregarious duo recentlywound up a fashion show and a beauty pageant at the 2013 Grape Escapade, forwhich they had but six days to develop a concept from scratch and see itexecuted till the end.
The duo take pride in having developed an entirely newconcept for every show they have undertaken and rightly so. After organisingthe Navy Ball in 2011, their services were called upon for the successive NavyBall. “It has never been in the history of Navy Ball that they approach thesame people twice. They approached us again and asked us to do somethingdifferent,” says Edson. Something different is what they did. “We developed anew concept of using live acts in fashion shows. For one of the rounds weincorporated Sonia Jaffar’s (an established dance choreographer and owner ofthe Beaumont Dance company in Goa) dances. In another round we used a livesinger, walking with a model,” he continues.
Taking ‘different’ to a whole new level, an impromptu photoshoot at Wildernest Nature Resort saw one of the photographs featuring on thecover of Planet Goa, edition of April 2012. “The shot – fraught with cold,mosquitoes and creepers – was taken of the model standing on Goan and Karnatakasoil with Maharashtra in the background,” says Falon.
Besides jointly coordinating uCherry, the duo has separatebusinesses. Falon has her own label called Falon D’Cruz. “I wanted to be afashion designer since I was 8 and though my forte is gowns I do other outfitsas well,” she says. Edson is managing Partner of Club Goa - in partnership withGoa Tourism - which at present is a privilege card that allows users to availof discounts with partner businesses.
It is sheer hard work that has paid off over the years, asstarting something venturing into unknown territory is never easy. “For ourlaunch fashion show, we had a sponsorship of only Rs 5000 and part of it wentto pay the models as a small token. It was more about brand building than moneythen, as eventually the brand would pay us back,” says Edson. Pay them back itdid, as uCherry is only getting more popular by the day.
