Grand finale: High on cocktail dresses, gowns

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Model display creations by Gauri and Nainika at the grand finale of Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2011 at Mumbai

The five-day-long fashion fiesta that is the Lakme Fashion Week Summer Resort 2011 ended with a bang on Tuesday with a grand finale show by Gauri and Nainika. With “Fantasy” as their theme, the sisters put together a collection of cocktail dresses and gowns so dreamy that the audience was transported into another realm altogether. But the wait for the collection was a long one, with the media and guests being made to queue up for over an hour before the doors to the main show area were finally opened. Even after that, the seating of such high profile guests as Bipasha Basu took a considerable amount of time, with the show finally starting at 11 pm, instead of the scheduled 9.30 pm.
The audience, however, was somewhat placated once they saw the complete change of décor that had been wrought. With a giant crescent moon as the backdrop on which a dancer in a flouncy white gown swayed, and doves descending from the ceiling, the auditorium had been converted into a veritable fantasyland.
The collection, too, matched the setting, with the garments following an exquisitely delicate colour palette and draping. Muted greys and whites were the mainstay of the collection, and old-fashioned voluminous skirts swept the ramp in a way that some of the models found difficult to manouevre. The stars of the show were two stilt artistes, who wowed the crowd with their daredevil dancing on the ramp. Zayed Khan and father Sanjay also came onto the ramp to congratulate Gauri and Nainika. Nainika said: “When Gauri and I first started, we were the first designers to put cocktail dresses on the ramp.