Of fashion, races and rows

Of fashion, races and rows
ELIZABETH NINAN

It was meant to be the social do of the week. With the flamboyant United Breweries scion Vijay Mallya playing host, the Kingfisher Fashion Awards Nights couldn’t have been anything but fun and frolic. But by a queer turn of events, a fly landed in the soup, oops, beer and spoiled the fun for Mallya.

It all began quite normally on Saturday evening, at the Royal Western India Turf Club. The fashion show was kicked off with a showcase of Manoviraj Khosla’s collection, including the Kingfisher Line designed by him. Most of the models were unknown faces, apart from Ford Super Model Kiran Vajpey and Abhijit Sanyal (the scars are still there, but he has certainly bounced back). The awards were presented in different categories: models, photographers, make-up artistes, light and stage management. Jeannie Naoroji walked away with the Kingfisher Hall of Fame. Other awardees ranged from Kabir Bedi, Colleen Hai and Sam Kerawala, to Walluscha D’Souza, Balbir Meena and Wendell Rodricks.

The second-big surprise of the party, was a foreigner performing yoga, to the crowd of Indians. The biggest surprise, of course, was the Fight: between the cops, a lawyer-filled wedding reception at adjoining Gallops restaurant and the high-ups from the Mallya Stable. All over a complaint from an irate magistrate-neighbour, about the deafening noise kicked up jointly by the two parties.

Everything came to a standstill. Mallya kept his cool. No tantrums or threats. Guests went home feeling equally sorry for both Mallya and Wendell Rodricks, as the latter’s collection wasn’t displayed.

But Mallya, being the sport he is, held it again the next evening. And with Six Speed winning the race on Sunday, he had reason to celebrate too. So the bubbly, oops, beer was soon flowing. The event was built around a Down Memory Lane theme. The celebrity guests included Shobha De and Prasad Bidappa, who were also the judges in selecting the awardees. Gautam Singhania and Marc Robinson looked dashing, as usual.

The celebration, held mainly to honour the awardees, saw some some brilliant designs from Wendell Roricks. The chic, white, flowing evening wear was well worth the wait. Mallya, with wife Rekha in tow, sure kept up to his promise of making it an entertaining evening.