When you have the ferociously driven activist Teesta Setalvad sitting on front row (her organisation Citizens for Justice and Peace was the backbone of the show), chatting with fashion director of a magazine, you begin to believe that fashion can work towards a cause
When you have the ferociously driven activist Teesta Setalvad sitting on front row (her organisation Citizens for Justice and Peace was the backbone of the show), chatting with fashion director of a magazine, you begin to believe that fashion can work towards a cause.
But that didn't take away from faux pas characteristic of the bizarre world of fashion. A show that started over an hour late, ex-model Milind Soman walking the ramp holding his Blackberry, and an AV that showed the New York skyline reminiscent of 9/11, rather than footage of 26/11 there were moments that got trying.
Saturday evening saw LFW present Mai Mumbai, a charity fashion show conceptualised by billionaire hotelier Vikram Chatwal and British supermodel Naomi Campbell to integrate Indian and international designers to showcase gowns and T-shirts. The garments will now be auctioned on eBay, and charity proceeds will go towards victims of the Mumbai terror attack.
Naomi arrived on ramp wearing a Vikram Phadnis' kurti. The motley mix of Bollywood (Arjun Rampal with wife Mehr in Rohit Bal, Farhan Akhtar in Raghavendra Rathore, Deepika Padukone in Carolina Herrara, Rahul Bose and Rahul Khanna in Narendra Kumar) shared the ramp with Vikram Chatwal in Arjun Khanna, writer Gregory Roberts and wife Princess Francoise Sturdza in Arjun Khanna and Araza Morelli, and supermodel Ujjwala Raut in YSL.
We loved Naomi in a Sabyasachi Mukherjee saree similar to the one Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wore at the recent Filmfare Awards. With decades of ramp experience, she effortlessly strode in, and left after giving a hug to IMG head honcho Fern Mallis who was seated on front row. Sweet.
India is a place of great smiles:u00a0 "I always stay at The Oberoi, and it was scary to hear what had unfolded on the night of 26/11," Naomi Campbell told the media gathered for a quick chat after the show. The crew,
make-up and hair artists had worked pro bono for this charity show, she said.
Mumbai rocks: British supermodel Naomi Campbell walks the ramp wearing Indian designer wear; Bollywood actors Malaika Arora Khan and Kunal Kapoor wear limited edition Mai Mumbai tees
Inputs by Bhairavi Jhaveri
Mai Mumbai
At: 7.30 pm, March 28
