TGIF Fashion Week

BIPULENDRA ADHIKARI / THT ONLINE

KATHMANDU: With an explosion of scintillating colours, drop dead styles and high octane glamour, TGIF Nepal Fashion Week 2009 took off to a dazzling start on Monday at the Yak & Yeti Hotel. Top ramp models from Nepal and India with a sprinkling of celebrities sashayed on the catwalk to pulsating music keeping the audience in thrall.

The themes on the first day began with Bridal Festimonia going on to themes as diverse as Street Ghetto and Mughal Mania. The startling contrast of styles for Hot Winter Collection deserves special mention.

The show pulled off a few surprises on the ramp with celebrities like actress Deepa Shri Niraula, Miss Nepal 2002 Malvika Subba and Newari actress Hishila Maharjan adding an extra dose of glamour to the proceedings. Later, Subba revealed that it has been three years since she last walked the ramp.

Apart from a technical glitch at the very start of the evening, the show went off smoothly without any glaring flaws.

After the show, Ashima Jain one of the Indian models declared that it was an absolute pleasure for her to walk the ramp in Nepal for the first time. She firmly felt that the level of professionalism here is not in the least bit inferior to India. She confessed that she finds Nepal like a second home.

Prashant Tamrakar the choreographer emphasised that the show was of international standards and expressed great satisfaction with the performance of the models, both Indian and Nepali.

Shailaja Adhikary, managing director of IEC, co-organisers of the Fashion Week, confessed to being dismayed at the tendency of Nepalis to be unpunctual, due to which the show couldn't start until nearly half an hour after the scheduled time. But other than that she has no real complaints about the way things went.

Tamghona Mandal, Indian fashion designer and coordinator of the show was all praise for the designers. He even went to the extent of rating the Nepali designers above their more privileged Indian counterparts. He explained that while Indian designers are set about their ways, the Nepali designers are raw and more receptive to guidance. “Fun, Fun, Fun and learn,” were the words he used to sum up the show.