Brian Lara takes on new role as he walks the ramp in WLIFW

New Delhi, Apr 6 (UNI) West Indies batting legend Brian Lara took a break from the familiar 22-yard-strip as he walked the ramp for designer Deepika Gehani and showcased her collection on the first day of the five-day Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week WLIFW here.

The strapping cricket sensation stumped audience as he took to his new role on the different wicket and proved that there is more to his life than being a cricket player.

Speaking after the event which kicked off yesterday Lara Gushed ''I enjoyed every bit of my little 50 seconds of ramp. I do have style and this time I was lucky enough to get off from my schedule.'' The much-awaited fashion event of the year was inaugurated by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday. While the event would witness the participation of 80 designers, the list of models comprises 33 top models along with 26 new faces including two former Miss India winners.

Designer Rohit Bal showcased his Japanese shigori influenced collection titled 'Vintage Autumn' in the event. The fabrics used in the collection included silk and velvet which were turned into quilted silk jackets, lycra tops, layered skirts and embellished male jackets. Dark colours usually brown, red, blue along with motifs embellishments were used in his collection flaunted by popular models including Deepika Patgari, Noyonica Chatterjee, Muzammil Ibrahim, Rajnesh and Igi.

Designer Manish Arora's show, though titled 'The King of Kitsh' drew a full house applause aswearability remained the main focus of his collection.

Vibrant colours teemed with dazzling crystals as fabrics were woven with contemporary siluettes giving a different, yet practical look. Indian influence, including sherwanis and floral motifs, dominated.

An interesting hybird of British and Mughal influences was the high point of Anju Modi's WLIFW Autumn-winter collection. The fabrics used were twill merino wool, felt, tweed cashmere, Gauze and hand knits in charcoal, indigo, burnt browns and camel colours.

Raghavendra Rathore created an elevated sense of style in both men's and women's wearables. The designer re-interpreted ''ornamentation'' in the form of curved zig zags and stylised floral motifs embellished with exquisite hand embriodery.

Other designers who displayed their collection included Deepika Gehani, Niki Mahajan, Pria Kataria Puri, Namrata Joshipura, Malini Ramani, Jattinn Kochhar and Payal Jain.

The fashion week, this year, has undergone many changes apart from having two ramps for the event. The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) has tied up with the Montana World of Wearable Art (WOW) while Wills Lifestyle has been chosen the official title sponsor partner for the event in the place of last year's Lakme.

WOW is one of the most coveted fashion extravaganzas in the world, held each year in New Zealand for last 16 years.

The PDM (Percept D' Mark) of the FDCI has engaged ''52'', one of the leading British company specialising in live events, for the fashion week.

UNI HS JN DB /KP1430