We knew the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week had plebeian ambitions when it left the confines of five-star hotels for Pragati Maidan. But who would have thought that the front-row fashionistas would have to settle for — and down on — wooden benches? On Day One, the nightmares of Prada-clutchers came true as they dug their stilettos in and sat on timber. Perhaps it was retro chic, perhaps it was the Week going green, somehow it did not work as the benches were mostly empty. Then the fall-winter show had the usual pitfalls. All the shows began fashionably late, at least by half an hour. If Vikram Phadnis’ flowers and ruches were a letdown and Suneet Varma’s take on the Orient did not look inspiring enough on a boudoir-red ramp, it got better, thankfully, as the evening progressed with the mosaic sequins and tube dresses of Namrata Joshipura, who went on to take a bow with her baby daughter, and the bandage dresses and dreamy, toga-like drapes of Gauri-Nainika. And there was a smattering of stars too — from Bipasha Basu on the ramp to a svelte Amisha Patel. We’ll wait for the clothes to become the real stars.
