The concluding day of the fashion week saw a large number of Bollywood stars walking the ramp for various designers. Anil Kapoor topped the list as he modelled for designer Kunal Rawal, who showcased casual menswear. Designer Rakesh Agarwal roped in Chitrangada Singh to up the glamour quotient of his collection 'Summer Solstice'. Celina Jaitley sashayed down in a layered georgette abstract print gown for designer Babita Malkani's collection "Coralien" that paid tribute to the world's coral reefs. Former Miss India and supermodel Madhu Sapre looked gorgeous in a multi tulle frilled gown created by designer duo Priya-Chintan, who showcased their spring summer collection. While Mandira Bedi and model-turned actress Geeta Basra looked gorgeous in outfits by Archana Kochhar, Pakistani actress Meera of "Nazar" fame walked the ramp for designer Nandita Thirani.
By Ranjit Rodricks Lakme and Sabyasachi Mukherjee brought a fantastic fashion week to a beautiful finish. Sabyasachi showcased his bridal collection while Lakme launched it’s ‘Bridal Sutra’ range of make-up. The entire venue took on the look and feel of a wedding. Deep reds, greens, gold, all showed up on the ramp. The same could not be said for the celebs in the audience. Of course, there was Shobha De, accompanied by two of her daughters, and Rahul Bose. Rahul Bose showed up to cheer on Sabyasachi, owing to the Bengali connection. Bose enjoyed the grand finale collection and applauded the Bong designer as “one of the most brilliant Bengali designers”.
By Ranjit Rodricks A cool and summery collection, inspired by coral reefs is what designer Babita Malkani showed in the afternoon on the very last day of the Gitanjali sponsored Lakme Fashion Week. Her garments in fresh blues, oranges, pinks, aquamarines and greens created a rainbow on the ramp and had many front row fashionistas making a mental note of which outfit to book for the next high-society party. While ex-supermodel Achala Sachdev opened the show and actress Celina Jaitley walked for the finale, the front row had a number of stars dotting the seats. Chak De actress Vidya Malvade came in almost as the show started and looked resplendent in one of Babita’s creations. She tells us, “Babita’s collection is very fresh and feminine. And her silhouettes, whether they are long or short, look fantastic on any women!” Actress Geeta Basra, another one of Babita’s loyal clients says, “She does bling in a very sophisticated way, her clothes never look tacky, and that’s why I love her collection. Also spotted at the show were singer Suchitra Krishnamoorthy, actress Meghana Naidu and controversial Miss Afghanistan, Vida Samadzai. Says Vida, “The outfits were relaxed, young and fun and I can see myself wearing them to a beach party!” Land ahoy…!!!
By Ranjit Rodricks “Angelic….there’s just one word to describe Vikram Phadnis’s show…angelic”, gushed actress Perizaad Zorabian after Vikram’s show, the last on Day 4 of Lakme Fashion week in Mumbai. Sitting pretty in the front row with her husband, the Bollywood gal clapped loudly and sang along as performer Shiamak Davar and his troupe had the audience in a frenzy with a song and dance routine that even had a model dressed as an angel with huge wings, walk down the ramp. Bollywood costume designer, Vikram Phadnis, unleashed a collection which was a riot of colour, featuring harlequin-inspired dresses, gowns, mini dresses and skirts in multi-coloured designs, patterns and fabrics – all of which enthralled the celebrity audience taking up pride of place in the front row. Though the venue was packed to capacity, we did manage to spot Celina Jaitley entering with Wendell Rodricks, actress Manjari from the film Jaane Tu, Sangeeta Bijlani and Mohammed Azharuddin, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Sandhya Mridul and a very pregnant Samita Bangargi with actor husband, Aashish Choudhary. Sangeeta Bijlani (dressed in a white jacket and skirt) found the show “Classy, high-on-energy and fabulous” while Tejaswini Kolhapuri confides that she can’t wait to buy “…some of Vikram’s fabulous pop-art inspired dresses!”
By Ranjit Rodricks Arjun Khanna’s showing – the last men’s wear show on Day 3 of Lakme Fashion Week – was house-full but lacked any powerful starry presence in the front row. Even though Bollywood starlet Kim Sharma did a Lolita act and opened the show, any other significant Bollywood presence was sorely missed. That’s not to say that Arjun didn’t have any famous faces at all at his fashion show. For in fact, Mumbai’s high-society regulars, who were out in droves, preened, pouted and posed to perfection, taking full advantage of the attention they were getting from the photographers in the absence of any other stellar presence. We spotted Delna Poonawalla discussing the nuances of Arjun’s clothes with singer Manasi Scott, Devieka and Suresh Bhojwani, Zeba and Rajesh Kohli and comedian Ash Chandler – who incidentally made an appearance on the ramp for designer Hemant Sagar, earlier in the day. Says Chandler, “Arjun’s clothes are always classic and his use of tone-on-tone embroidery is superb,” while Delna Poonawalla tells us that Arjun’s use of ice cream colours like pista, strawberry, butterscotch and vanilla was “refreshing.”
By Ranjit Rodricks It was only obvious – and expected – that if actor-turned politician, Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter (Sonakshi Sinha) was walking the ramp, a number of Bollywood biggies would turn up at Lakme Fashion Week to support the lovely girl and cheer her appearance on the catwalk. And so, it came as no surprise to find a number of the older Bollywood stars – from Shotgun Sinha’s time – clapping and cheering for Sonakshi at Dev and Nil’s showing, which was then followed by Zubair Kirmani. Spotted in the front row were Jackie Shroff (all in black and wearing dark glasses), Poonam Dhillon (lovely as always), Kiran Joneja Sippy (looking super hot a in fiery red dress), TV star Satish Shah and singer Ila Arun. Among the younger stars were Arbaaz Khan, Rohit Roy (in pastel pink pants) with wife Manasi Joshi and Sonakshi’s brothers – twins, Luv and Kush Sinha. Post the show, actor Rohit Roy tells us that he could “Relate to most of the clothes that were shown on the ramp and loved the footwear (by Abdul Tawwab) in particular!” Arbaaz Khan found the collection by Zubair Kirmani “Very sporty and casual….very comfortable to wear!” As for Kiran Joneja Sippy, she found both the labels showing very “Distinct styles!” Adds the actress, “Dev and Nil were more formal with an Indian twist while Zubair was more casual. I think you could mix and match perfectly from both the designers and create and individualistic look!” But would she like to see her film-maker husband, Ramesh Sippy, in a bright red suit by Zubair? “I don’t think so,” she smiles, “But I would definitely like to order a few of the men’s shirts for myself!”
By Ranjit Rodricks Even though the silhouettes, accessories and designs at Tarun Tahiliani’s show for Levi’s on the second day of Lakme Fashion week was rather predictable, his front row guests did not include his usual cast of prima donnas and society mavens. There was no Simi Garewal, in signature pristine white, and neither was there a Shilpa Shetty in skin-hugging jeans. Instead, we spotted the luscious TV star Kamal Siddhu, photographers Sheena Sippy and Atul Kasbekar, socialites Aarti and Kailash Surendranath and actor Rahul Bose. Applauding a collection that included jeweled chain bras, denim hot pants with gold coins, pencil skirts with Apsara chains, wrinkled skinny jeans and denim jackets lavished with thousands of Swarovski crystals, Tarun’s front row crowd seemed dazzled by all the bling, which he is so famous for. Post the show, Rahul Bose tells us, “As you know, I’m not a very fashion conscious person and neither do I know much about fashion. But whatever I saw on the ramp today was impressive. I didn’t think denim was so versatile. Also, since Tarun has always done a bridal sequence in his shows, I loved the way he portrayed his bride in bleached white jeans, covered with jeweled chains and crystals, worn by actress Sonam Kapoor.” Aarti Surendranath, one of Mumbai’s most famous fashionistas says, “It was nice to see different silhouettes from Tarun. He’s usually into sarees, ghagras and bridal wear. So it was refreshing to see a young collection in denim designed by him!”
By Ranjit Rodricks Maybe it was because of the sensitive political situation in Mumbai that the high-profile movers and shakers were missing in action at the first row at the Lakme Fashion Week. Or maybe it was because there were no really big or famous names showing in the first half of the day. But the glamour quotient was rather low on Day 2 and had most people craning their necks for a glimpse of a superstar here or a supermodel there. TV anchor Pooja Bedi was spotted at the very first show of the day by Joytee Khaitan, Manish Gupta and Pallavi Jaipur and up until the early evening show at 4:00 pm, she was the only glamorous face in the first row crowd. However, it was Nalandda Bhandari who had quite a few fans cheering her models on, while Gurpreet Pia Fleming had songstress Manasi Scott rooting for her. Says Manasi, “I was advised by a friend of mine to come and watch ‘Bian’ by Gupreet Pia Fleming, and I must say I wasn’t disappointed at all,” confides the gorgeous lady. “I think her choice of footwear was fantastic and I’m definitely going to order the show-stopping outfit worn by Ujjwala Raut, for one of my own concerts,” she reveals. Chocolatier Zeba Kohli admitted that she was at the showing because she “…loves fashion” and adds, “I enjoy watching shows by new talents.” Zeba also tells us that she found Nalandda Bhandari’s collection “…very fresh and loved the flowy silhouettes in particular!” Socialite and designer Sabeena Singh (wife of restaurateur AD Singh) tells us that Nalanda’s collection stood out because “She was not big on embroidery and is always very particular about her finish which was very evident in this collection!”
By Ranjit Rodricks If designer Narendra Kumar Ahmed had high drama on his ramp with the likes of Bollywood stars Kangana Ranaut and Priyanka Chopra walking in his creations, there was more than enough celebrity presence in his front row on the first day of the Lakme Fashion week in Mumbai. And while Kangana and Priyanka were joined on the ramp by model Mughda Godse to promote their upcoming film, Fashion, the front row saw the film’s director Madhur Bhandarkar, stylist Rita Dhody and lead actor Arjan Bajwa cheering on their stars with much enthusiasm and bonhomie. Says Arjan Bajwa, “Since Narendra’s show was basically designed to show off the trendy hairstyles by the Sunsilk team, I really enjoyed the way they had styled all the models’ hair from different eras. As for Nari’s clothes, they were revolutionary, as always.” Also spotted in front row were TV star Simone Singh with her director husband Fahad Samar, Simone Tata, actress Madhoo (of Roja fame) and singer Suchitra Pillai. Madhoo particularly liked the fact that Narendra’s creations were “…not over the top and were actually quite wearable. But there were a few pieces I didn’t like, for example, the green catsuit and the high-waisted tights.” Actress Simone Singh found that Narendra had stuck to his “…signature style of elegant evening dresses and loved the skinny pants in particular.” And finally, Suchitra Pillai tells us that she found the collection to be “Very young in spirit!” She was taken up with Narendra’s use of vibrant colours and “…totally fell in love with his printed jeans!”
By Ranjit Rodricks Dramatic silhouettes in red and black dominated the first show, by Shantanu and Nikhil Mehra, at the ongoing Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai. For an afternoon showing, it came as a bit of a surprise to find that the designer brothers had a number of celebrities and Bollywood stars taking up pride of place in the front row. Among the more noteworthy names were Bollywood muscleman Suneil Shetty, who walked in with his wife Mana while actor Ashish Choudhary made a solo entry, sans his very pregnant wife, Samita Bangargi. Singer Hard Kaur managed to get in just before the show started and actress Perizad Zorabian in an emerald green outfit, looked as gorgeous as the models on the ramp. We also spotted singer Sharon Prabhakar in the front row and realized she was there to cheer on her daughter, Shahzaan Padamsee, who was the show-stopper for the Mehra siblings. Says Suneil Shetty after the show got over, “The entire show was very classy and I personally loved the men’s wear!” But would he wear the sherwanis and suits as dramatically as they were shown on the ramp? “I would definitely tone it down by mixing and matching,” he confides. However, Bollywood’s action man had one peeve – “There were too many foreign models on the ramp. We should promote Indian models and use them more often since they are a class apart,” he advises. Let’s hope Shantanu and Nikhil are listening. As for British-Asian singer Hard Kaur, she tells us that she “Loved the black and red combination that defined the collection. I also enjoyed the clever detailing with jewelry that accentuated the silhouettes of the outfits,” she observes. And finally actor Ashish Choudhary “loved the men’s wear”, found the sarees “Very elegant” and the rest of the western silhouettes “Rather unusual!”
Here's a blog where we look past the runway to the fashion news being made in the front row or the after-party. Find out who turned up to support their favourite designers and get front row fashion scoops. Check back for regular reports on the Front Row Fashionistas.
