Store house

The capital's Lal family was in a complete tizzy at the preview of Good Earth's `Maroc' collection. Anita Lal hustled around the recently renovated outlet, putting drops of perfume on lamps and pouring out mint tea. Hubby Vikram Lal (Eicher head honcho) quietly cleaned the branches of a palm tree in one corner. And the daughter-son team of Simran and Siddharth put up as many candles as they could in the glass holders, fitting in a small jig to a Moroccan song in the middle. But the lady who was actually supposed to cut theribbon -- half-Moroccan veejay-actress Laila Raouss -- decided to stay away. Not that anybody missed her. There were so many other interesting people around from the world of fashion and interiors, Laila's absence was hardly even noticed. Spotted there were INTACH's Tasneem Mehta, Melange's Sangeeta Kathiwada, designer Sara Eapen, and Birdy's Rachna Narang. The guests came, shopped and left, the jugglers and dancers did their routine and everybody generally had a nice time gorging on the Moroccan goodies.

Gimmick wear

The Juhu boutique Gimmicks may not be a well-known brand but the fact is that they dress many of the city's most beautiful faces, from Sonali Bendre, Tabu to Aishwarya Rai. They were also the designers of Juhi Chawla's hush hush wedding! To tout their achievements, on Sunday, the store held a showing at the Fashion Bistro. With most of the garments on display costing over Rs one lakh, it really was an exclusive affair. Choreographed by Marc Robinson, on the ramp were Helen Brodie,Madhu Sapre and a dozen other leading models. Turning up to see the creations were Neeta and Mukesh Ambani, Sharmila Raj Thackeray and Aarti Surendranath as well some buyers who had flown down from London and Dubai just to check out the designs.

Short song

It was supposed to be the opening night of a karaoke bar. And the Picadilly lounge bar at Bawa International did have all the other elements -- celebs spilling out of every corner, drinks flowing out of the bar. But as for the karaoke bit, for most of the evening there was absolutely nothing in common between the songs being played by the DJ and those being screened on the TV sets. The only time when Jackie Shroff, Vivek Mushran and Bikram Saluja did do a bit of crooning was when Guns N Roses' `Sweet Child of Mine' blared over the speakers. Otherwise, everybody was too busy trying to breathe in the midst of the choc-a-bloc crowd.

And finally...

Guess which local gal's picture was featured in last month's Vogue? No, not any of oursuper-models or fashion designers, but Lia Dubash. The daughter of a shipping magnate, she is in the September issue of the British Vogue for her personal style. Apparently, the style of the moment is to dress according to what suits your personality , whether that's chic or grunge. Lia's style is described by this leading fashion glossy as being "highly decorative boho", which is a kind of colourful eastern look which has aspects of grunge. Hmmm... next time there is an award going for style, perhaps this Vogue girl should be in the running.

How it happened...

Express Newsline has done it again. On September 30, it created a tidal wave that swept the city's glitterati off its feet. With `Waves' -- an evening of coastal couture and cuisine. The genesis of the event happened when Karan Grover and the Express team put on their thinking caps and came up with the novel idea of having a four-pronged series of events reflecting the four elements of nature -- Water, Earth, Wind and Fire -- in alltheir splendour. They roped in fashion designer Wendell Rodricks, who conceived an entire line of fluid, flowing creations in shades of sea green, aquamarine and sand. The Oberoi Hotel's chefs rose to the challenge by concocting seafood delights from all the four corners of the world that were simply mouth-watering. Purnima Sampat's creative genius transformed the entire Oberoi lobby into a coastal haven. None of this would have been possible without Garden Silk Mills, Ghanasingh & Sons Jewellers, Seagrams, Grover Wines, Sahara Airlines and Creation. Watch out for the next event. Which element it will revolve around: Earth, Wind or Fire? We aren't telling yet.