On Tuesday night, Mumbai's glamourous lot got together at the Fashion Bistro for a special cause. They were there to raise money for the Indian soldiers defending our borders at Kargil. For an entrance fee of Rs 1,500, each guest was given a raffle ticket. And the lucky few who held the right numbers won outfits created by India's biggest and best designers -- Rohit Bal, Suneet Verma, Manish Malhotra and Rocky S. What's more, everyone involved with this show worked for free -- from models Bipasha Basu and Sushma Reddy to choreographer and compere for the night, Marc Robinson (looking dapper in a Suneet Verma original) and make-up artist Vipul Bhagat. The fashion industry really pulled together for a cause -- and raised an impressive Rs 80,000, all in one night. For once, the city's glitterati actually partied with good reason!

Madhu's day

Tuesday also happened to be Madhu Sapre's birthday and she came to the Bistro with buddy Mel D'souza (from Channel [V]). After the Kargildraw was done, all attention moved to the birthday girl. Being one of the most popular faces in the industry, just about everyone was there to wish her -- from designer Hemant Trevedi to fellow model Noyonika Chatterjee. Madhu was beaming all night long and spent most of her time on the dance floor. Now we know how this svelte model keeps her super-trim figure intact.

Ramp dinner

Actually, models seemed to have reserved the entire week just for partying. On Thursday night, the entire tribe congregated at Lokhandwala for the re-launch of Pizza Express. This delivery pizza joint will now specialise in vegetarian and fusion pizzas. So much so, that they even have a vegetarian Chinese pizza on the menu. However, on Thursday night, the city's happening crowd had the privilege of creating their own delicacies. Among those who played `chef' that night were Achla Sachdev, Noyonika Chatterjee and Nikhil Chinappa. Believe it or not, these skinny women even had cheese on their pizzas! Nice to know that modelstoo find time to eat the occasional hearty meal -- the rate at which they were partying, you'd have thought there was no time for anything else.

High sprits

The most talked about event last week obviously was the Black and White ELLE Style Awards function at the Oberoi Regal room. Thirteen chosen celebs were crowned the most stylish people in the country. Despite the fact that there are more award ceremonies these days than people to crown, there was a huge turnout for this mega-event.

Anyone who was anyone showed up -- from Mahesh Bhupati to Shah Rukh Khan. So much so, that Delhi designers like Ravi Bajaj, Suneet Verma, Bobby and Manju Grover actually flew down just for the event. But the one person who displayed real style that night was UDV's Sunil Lulla -- his company sponsored the event -- dressed in a simple yet elegant suit. He sat right at the back of the room letting all his guests occupy front row seats. Moreover, the smile on his face didn't once slip as he made sure everyonehad a good time. Obviously, here's a man who doesn't need to work on acquiring style -- he's a natural. In fact, some of the winners that night could actually learn a thing or two from him.

Style gurus

As for the names that eventually won the coveted trophies, there weren't too many surprises. Most of the guests had guessed who the winners would be before they were announced. Star TV's Peter Mukherjea bagged the most stylish professional award; Lisa Ray, most stylish female model; Milind Soman, most stylish male model; Ajay Jadeja, most stylish sports personality and Madhu Sapre was declared the ELLE style icon. Okay, so the ceremony itself held no surprises. But that didn't stop everyone from partying the night away on the dance floor. Everyone really was in `high spirits' and the party rocked till the wee hours of dawn. Yet again, Madhu seemed to enjoy shaking a leg, which was just as well, since everyone wanted to dance with the winner of the night.

Ad buzz

Another magazinethat is all about style is Anuradha Mahindra's Verve which is back in the news again. Verve's recent advertisement campaign created by PSL Erickson has just received a finalist certificate from the 1999 New York Festival in the Media promotion Print Category. Over 6,000 entrants are recieved for this coveted award from over 56 countries. Verve's winning entry is called `Lifestyle', to find out more check out their website at // www. vervemag.com.

And finally...

There was more to this week than just partying and talking about style. For there was also the opening of Hosi Vasunia's Barefoot In Mumbai, a desi adaptation of a Neil Simeon original. The response, in the first two days, has been huge -- it played to packed audiences on both Satuday and Sunday. Among those who came to see the play are Alyque Padamsee, Sharon Prabhakar, Louis Banks and Harsh Goenka. Nice to know that the city's beautiful people take time out for a bit of culture.