Over 80,000 people have visited the exhibition which is scheduled to wind up on Sunday, but today's fashion show held to mark its end, called The Beginning, was a very private affair. Only a few hundred of the city's elite had been invited to watch 45 leading models display Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla's designs.

"We've been working for this event for the last two months. It's probably the biggest fashion show of its kind since the Yves Saint Laurent show a few years ago," Sandeep Khosla said. For the designer duo, today's show was reason for double celebration, for even at the recent Art of Giving auction for AIDS patients, their outfit had got the highest bid.

The NGMA director, Dr Saryu Doshi, who had conjured up the idea of a fashion show for the closingceremony, said: "This makes a wonderful finale. I felt Abu-Sandeep were perfect as they design wonderful clothes that use all our inherited traditions. Fashion is a part of design, which is part of art." She said she felt the NGMA was the right place for a ramp show because of the spiral staircase, which could be used as a catwalk.

Richard Blurton, the curator from British Museum felt the fashion extravaganza gave the Enduring Image Exhibition just the ending it deserved.

"It brought real excitement. When an exhibition has been on for a few months, it needs a lift at the end," he said.

Tradition seemed to be the theme of the show. At the very outset, Noyonika Chatterjee walked down the spiral staircase to a bhajan wearing a Lucknowi chikan outfit. Then came a range of white outfits, followed by the more darker and heavier ones. All of the duo's famous designs were on display.

"We wanted to show a bit of all our collections," said Khosla, adding the focus of the collection wasresham.

Among those on the ramp were Anna Bredmeyer, Madhu Sapre and Bipasha Basu. "It was a mind-blowing event. The clothes complimented the art so well. And I could tell from the expressions on the faces of the audience that everyone was stunned by the designs," Madhu Sapre said.

Also, most of the models who had not seen the exhibition got to marvel at it today. "We have been really busy. But I'm glad I got the chance to see it. It's really beautiful," Sapre felt. The show was choreographed by Lubna Adams, and there were very few rehearsals, since the museum could not be shut down for practice runs.

Apart from today's fashion show, the other cultural events held during the exhibition included a poetry reading session by Amitabh Bachchan and a theatre workshop conducted by Sanjana Kapoor.