Boy’s night

As designers and buddies Narendra Kumar Ahmad and Suneet Varma cheered from the audience,Bajaj’s dandies came out in crisp suits,leather-trimmed shirts and jackets with built-in scarves. And if Ansal’s biker chic at the opening wasn’t enough,Bajaj took a turn himself at the end and led his boys off the ramp amidst a roaring reception.

The week has also given a boost to the fledgling prospects of male models in the country. A slew of male debutantes are cashing on their looks and hoping to make a career in the world of fashion. Eighteen-year-old Shaz Qureishi,a class 11 student from JD Tytler School,who walked the ramp for designer Nitin Bal Chauhan,says: “I have always wanted to become a model and who doesn’t enjoy a bit of fashion.” He posed in a goth T-shirt,appearing no less confident than any seasoned model on the ramp.

Meanwhile,life for South African fashion photographer Chris Ladewig,22,took a surprising turn after he accompanied his brother to a model agency. “I never planned to become a model. I just went with my younger brother Brandon to give him moral support when the organisers told me to give it a shot as well,” smiled Ladewig,on his first trip to India. Ladewig will be walking at Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai next.

Salman Khan’s Being Human charity was co-sponsor of the week,and it was expected the actor would show up at some point. What was not expected was that the finale,with designers Ashish Soni and Rohit Gandhi-Rahul Khanna would begin almost on schedule,and that Khan would reach on time,and walk the ramp twice. Of course,each of the designers put together a look worthy of the urban professional,but it was Khan’s charisma that drowned everything else.

Even as dialogues from the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Don played in the background,Khan walked the ramp dressed in suits which had Being Human emblazoned on the collar and at the back of his suit.

If Khan’s appearance was expected,designer Rajesh Pratap Singh took the audience totally by surprise earlier in the evening,when he had 16 men from various professional domains walk the ramp. While his friends,designers Manish Arora and Gaurav Gupta got the fashion fraternity on their feet,the showstopper among the lot was undoubtedly ace artist Subodh Gupta,who did a confident walk-through looking dapper in a red-white checkered suit. The other men who made Singh’s designs look good included artist Chintan Upadhyay,musician Karsh Kale and set designer Sumant Jaykrishnan among others.

Clearly,the show is far from over.