Mumbai: ICW

Show: Manish Malhotra
On: September 21, 7 pm
At: The lawns, Grand Hyatt, Vakola

Front row Attendance: Politician and beedi baron Praful Patel and family, Sharmila Thackeray, Nitish Rane, actors Riteish Deshmukh, Tusshar Joshi, Celina Jaitley, Shveta Salve, Shilpa and Shamita Shetty with mother and filmmaker Karan Johar 

In a pre-show interview, Manish Malhotra promised his show would be an intimate one, a symbol of the time a bride and groom spend together in solitude after the madness of the Great Indian Wedding has subsided. But in a jam-packed house with film stars and politicians cheek by jowl, intimacy faded as fast as Amitabh Bachchan's Kabhie Kabhie dialogue, that echoed while the first few garments walked the ramp.

Sticking to what he does best, Manish presented a range of bridal Indian wear ghagras, fish tail lehengas, saris and churidhar kurtas. The back has suddenly become the most sensual spot of a woman's anatomy, and Manish continued the trend set by designers before him, to present sensual cholis, some ending high, others
skirting the navel, all with a wide, open back held together by a single string.
 
Velvet has been a favourite fabric this Couture Week, and Manish used it in plenty, in royal shades of maroon, green and midnight blue, sometimes teaming a flimsy kurta with a stately velvet dupatta set off by a fat zardozi border.

Show: Rohit Bal
On: September 21, 9 pm
At: The lawns, Grand Hyatt, Vakola

Front row Attendance: Filmmaker Karan Johar with his mother Hiroo, actor Ritiesh Deshmukh

You can take a designer out of Kashmir, but can't take Kashmir away from the designer. The whimsical optimist, Rohit Bal bent back to his roots, and offered the audience a 360-degree view of his secret garden the Cheshma Shahi Mughal Garden in Srinagar.

Huge cutouts of pomposh (Kashmiri term for lotus) adorned the show area where an act by whirling dervishes was followed by model Sheetal Mallar ambling in an intricately textured ivory ghagra worn with a quilted top clasped by angel wing sleeves. The "ivory" state-of-mind prevailed a bit longer with seven models wearing varied interpretations of sherwanis over ghagras, bandgalas teamed with dhoti pants and sexy blouses paired with sarees, to allow a sudden burst of colours splashed over  costumes crafted from lush fabrics like Chanderi silk, organza and velvet, each with urgency of relevancy, timelessness and heritage.
 
Models sporting Samurai hairdos recreated the prevalent war tension in the Valley, and a medley of bittersweet soundtracks, from the romantic Jiya Dhadak Dhadak Jaye, melancholic Maule Mere, malevolent Bang Bang (My baby shot me down) to the upbeat Another Breathe, Just Believe, worked well.

The menswear line-up featured a few of Rohit's favourite models including Ajay Balhara and Inder Bajwa walking the ramp, wearing bandgalas, sherwanis, jackets worn over fitted trousers and dhoti pants. Ornate high
collars and the dramatic use of velvet swatches added a dash of festivity.