Gossip

MALiNI'S MUMBAI Work hard, party harder: Ashish Soni with Pervez Damania at Lush last night. Pic: Pradeep Dhivar Fun after fashion While, fashion week has been celebrity-centric over the past few days, the modelling brat pack finally let their hair down after a hectic day of roaming the ramp (and struggling with wardrobe malfunctions) at a party hosted by Ashish Soni at Lush last night. Looks like, the Delhi-based designer was celebrating the fact that he successfully secured one of the coveted 9 pm show slots for his collection. Sunny Sara with Pia Trivedi (left) and Suvedh Lohia with Nina Manuel make the most of the revised deadline at Squeeze Curfew relaxed The design fraternity aren't the only ones who benefit from fashion week, special permission has been granted to clubs like Ra, Red Light, Lush and Squeeze (who incidentally had a rocking live hip hop band down from the UK on Wednesday night) to stay open till 3 am up till Sunday night. So if you've reluctantly been dragging yourself home at 1.15 am sharp every Friday, tonight's your lucky night! Watch out for us: The Sona Family Get buzzing Now that the chorus line "I'm buzzing, I-I-I'm buzzing" from "Glassy" is firmly stuck in my head, I'm happy to inform you that the UK desi music maestros known as The Sona Family are performing tomorrow night at Aziano. The Sona Family is a collective of British Asians, who combine urban music with their own upbringing as UK Desis. They unleashed the club hit "Glassy" a while ago, it's a catchy ode to "shot" culture and weekend binge drinking (sounds familiar?) and was created in collaboration with DJ Nihal for the Bombay Bronx album. It's all about loving your dog: Renny with Caramel Puppy love part II Looks like pets have become the latest Hollywood-inspired fashion accessory to resurface these days. After Kim Jagtiani took her pug to a fashion show last week, model/actress Renny decided to teach her puppy a thing or two about art at the 'From Amsterdam with Love' exhibition at Zenzi.

Diamonds are my best friends too: Prince Charles takes a tour of an organic plant in Sirhind

Royal treatment

HRH (His Royal Highness) Prince Charles was in Sirhind to lay the foundation stone for an organic food plant recently.

After the auspicious coconut breaking Cherie Tandon Saldanha (MD, DTC — India, Nakshatra) gifted HRH a diamond pendant, to which he quipped, "If I get diamonds for breaking coconuts in India then I just want to keep doing that!" Any takers?

Ugly! Neha Dhupia struts her stuff for Mandira Wirk. Pic: Sujit jaiswal

What were you thinking, Wirk?

It's great to be inspired by the design talent of giants like Manish Arora and Tarun Tahiliani, but not at the risk of losing your own individuality. Newcomer Mandira Wirk's collection, titled Eternal Voyage, was an utter madness of ideas, philosophies and accessories.

The show started in the blissful company of unblemished whites, but it soon turned into a mayhem of colours. The collection of corseted tees, cargo pants, layered long and short skirts and dresses, would have commanded a second look, but the designer turned the collection on its head with a bizarre selection of shoes, hideous headgear (arrows poking out of a spider web) and street-side earrings.

The headgear was meant to amplify the role of the woman as Goddess, but it only made us question the intention, something that we last did when M F Husain painted Goddess Saraswati in the nude.

"The look for the show was decided at the last minute. The headgear was Mandira's idea. As a make-up artist, I have my own restrictions," said an apologetic make-up artist Clint Fernandes.

The last three garments, actually make that shreds of fabrics and beads, worn by model Viveka Babajee, actors Neha Dhupia and Tania Zaetta, look like they were straight out of a fancy dress competition. It gets our vote for being the Most Amateurish Show of LFW.

Young talent: Gauhar Khan presents a Rahul Mishra creation - AP

Winds of change

Lakm's gen-next designers — Deepti Toor, Bhawna Rao, Leena Wadhwa, Samar Firdoz, Swapnil Shinde and Rahul Mishra — breathed a sense of freshness and spunky energy into Fashion Week with their show last morning.

More than elegant glamour, their clothes spoke of a fun, sexy look with prints, embroidery and embellishments, but not in a chaotic mayhem like Mandira Wirk's collection. With corsets, umbrella-cut skirts, fitted trousers, wrap pants, churidars, and long jackets, each designer showcased their individuality with a touch of oomph.

In fact, Rahul's beautifully understated line (he's being touted as the next Sabyasachi) in fabrics from the handlooms of Kollayil (well-cut and chic) had Albert Morris, the buyer from Browns, London's chic boutique store, hunt the designer down to express interest.

Even Bhawna's truck-inspired line with structured embellished skirts in pleats, pin tucks and flounce were striking. Considering the mediocrity that's come out from some our veterans, these mod-young stars can teach them a thing or two!

Cat woman: Jesse Randhwa does a Michelle Pfeiffer for Suneet Verma. Pic: Shadab Khan

Suneet dazzles, but the desi way

If you ogled at Michelle Pfeiffer pawing her way through Batman Returns, then you will love Suneet Verma's desi take on it. The Delhi designer's very first diffusion line saw him stick to his signature style — vibrant and sensual. We have our doubts whether the collection was suited for any woman apart from those from the socialite clique, since every garment on display received hoots from the hoity-toities in row one.

The emphasis was on texturing rather than heavy-duty embellishments, that Suneet is known for. Like Manish Malhotra, Suneet too used lace to create sexy cropped pants. But instead of keeping it simple, he added a splash of Swarovski to give it a dazzle. As if his collection lacked razzmatazz, Suneet also used fake fur, metallic leather and beaded belts.

The silhouette stuck frighteningly close to the body, demanding you to stay in top shape to wear them, especially the cat suit Jesse Randhwa sauntered in. She looked stunning in the feline attire, and so would actor Shilpa Shetty, who Suneet declares is on his client wish-list.

"I would love to design for Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai and Ayesha Takia, but since I reside in Delhi, the geography doesn't allow me to," he lamented. Now some good news for the strong hearted who are still willing to put their figure to test: Suneet's collection is priced between Rs 6,800 and Rs 14,500.

I know better: Umesh Madkar, a Khalsa College student, puts Ashish Soni's line under the microscope. Pic: Vishal Kelkar

Janta janardan: lovely

I really liked the collection. The clothes were beautiful. I wanted to go back for more. If I saw this at a store, I'd buy it for someone (it was an all women's line).

I like to try out different styles and play around with looks. These clothes were sober — not bright and gaudy and that was the best part.

Even though the designer was going for a masculine look, the clothes had a touch of femininity.

Looking west: Ashish Soni's line on display. Pic: Vishal Kelkar

Our take: wow

Breathtaking, said Sabyasachi on Ashish Soni's collection. "I'm glad Indian designers are making collections at par with western standards," he added.

We couldn't agree more. With his focus on cuts, Soni's clothes have a timelessness and a sense of drama few others can manage.

With an incorporation of ethnic inspirations into more western silhouettes, Ashish definitely reaches out to a cosmopolitan international audience.

Vibrant: A model wears a Lascelles Symons outfit - AP

Zip it!

Every Austin Powers fan knows that was Dr Evil's command. And suddenly, it's designer Lascelles Symons's too. After the second wardrobe malfunction in two days at the Lakm Fashion Week, where model Gauhar Khan's black skirt split to reveal her derriere, Lascelles has pinned the blame on a zip maker.

When he was quizzed about the fiasco that Gauhar tactfully handled by hiding the tear with her hands, Lascelles said that the skirt was held together by a zip that gave way when Gauhar walked the ramp.

With bitchy talk about these malfunctions being nothing but publicity stunts, doing the rounds of the venue, designers who don't have a hope in hell of making it to page 1 know which zip-maker to contact.