And the bride wore pink

It was all glitz and glamour, style and drama as celebratedcouturier to the stars, Manish Malhotra, had the many models walk across theblack acrylic ramp that was as reflective as the water bodies all around thetropical lagoon setting. From ruby red, blue sapphire and emerald green jewel tones for men’s and women’s wear, Manish moved to the final fashion accent with pink tourmaline. Yes, it looked like the blushing brides would surely like to be preened in pretty pink. It was a story of sophisticated opulence, with classic tradition combined with a contemporary touch.Brocade kalidar kurtas worn over flowing shararas and whitepaneled ghagras with red velvet embroidery flashed before your eyes. Tiered longskirts seemed to be a favourite with one creation in net with a bronze choli anddupatta and a net sari with a brocade petticoat. Velvet on thebodices and hemlines were bewitching, while piping on the multi kalis addedfluid volume to the creations. For the finale the designer did nothave a Bollywood babe but our very own leggy model Candice Pinto in a stunninggreen long-sleeved velvet heavily encrusted crystal and zardosi jacket, teamedwith a layered lehenga. The men’s wear stood out with those blacksherwanis, grey green shaded silk jackets, striped ivory kurtas, worn withbillowy salwars, Turkish pants or cowled churidars. And one must not forget thelong bubble ponytails for the female models and the gorgeous jewellery.Looking like a blushing bride was Amrita Rao who was the showstopper for Archana Kochhar’s beautiful bridal wear collection, presented by Giantti in aid of the Nanhi Kali project, at the Aamby Valley India Bridal Week 2010 on Tuesday. Four male models clad in white and silver sherwanis escorted the petite and pretty Amrita who appeared angelic in a Mughal-e-Azam inspired red velvet lehenga with a panelled long sleeve angarkha. And it turned out to be a night of showstoppers (and showstarters) as the other designers, too, opted for famous faces to walk the many ramps amidst the tropical lagoon setting at Hotel Sahara Star. Young designer Sounia Gohil opted tostart her show with the graceful Geeta Basra in a red crystal work lehenga witha red odhani and a stylish velvet choli. The beautiful showstopper Zarine Khanin an opulent white fully ornate lehenga with a maroon silk dupatta and acrystal choli. Jaya Misra, on the other hand, opened her show with Kashmira Shahin a delicate pale pink lehenga with a blue net dupatta. In between, she hadShibani Kashyap walk the ramp in a red ornate lehenga with a green velvet choliand odhani. And ending the show was showstopper Tulip Joshi wearing aluxuriously embellished red lehenga with a wine velvet choli and net dupatta.Jaya unveiled her ‘Utsav’ collection inspired by the movie Utsav.Also spotted at the party were Abhijit Sarkar, CorporateCommunications Head, Sahara India Parivar and Vivek Kumar, CEO, Aamby ValleyCity, Sahara Star. Sridevi, Amrita Arora, Aarti Chabria and Bhagyashree addedto the glam quotient. The party continued at Hi Lounge at SaharaStar.