Fashion fundas at this filmi do

One look at her and you wouldn’t have guessed that the slim ‘n’ trim Samita Bangargi delivered a baby some months back. Looking stunning in a bright red corset top and jeans, the lady was at hubby Aashish Chowdhry’s side throughout the night at Cinemax, Versova on Monday, where the couple had come to attend a film screening. Although Aashish’s good friends Ritiesh Deshmukh and Sajid Khan couldn’t attend the do as they were out of the country, many of his other well-wishers did. Sohail Khan sported a red bandana on his head and looked cool and casual in his T-shirt and jeans while Mandira Bedi’s short dress was a headturner. Rahul Dev headed to the popcorn counter before proceeding towards the theatre. Seems somebody was maha-hungry! Arshad Warsi, Aditi Govitrikar, Aarti Chhabria, Raghav Sachar and Sharman Joshi were also spotted having a good time. 
    BEHIND THE CAMERA: It was directors and producers’ night out as well as biggies like Jag Mohan Mundra, Ramesh Taurani, Sudhir Mishra, Ravi Chopra, Sanjay Gadhvi, Piyush Jha hobnobbed with each other before settling in to watch the film. 

Sharman Joshi

Samita Bangargi and Aashish Chowdhry

Arshad Warsi

Mandira Bedi

Rahul Dev

Strut around in girlfriend fashion

Girls wearing men’s clothes have always been fashionable. But when men start wearing clothes that might be straight out of their girlfriends’ closet – girlfriend fashion – you can’t help but stare. Especially when it is not a bisexual or gay man but a proven alpha male. 
    Hunky football star Cristiano Ronaldo is a case in point. He was recently spotted in hot pants, with pink fresh flowers in his hair and carrying a clutch. So too action movie star, Jason Statham of Transporter fame, who was recently seen wearing girly hot pants accessorized with a clutch. In fact, girlfriend fashion, is being taken so seriously that supermodel Kate Moss made her beau Jamie Hince wear a pair of her cut-off denim hot pants. 
    Back home, men in skirts are becoming increasingly common at ‘Page 3’ parties. When Abhishek Bachchan started wearing a hair band, he set off a trend. And when Katrina wore pants in the film New York boys began s t r u t t i n g around in Katpants too. A n d ro g y - nous clothing – not particularly male or female – has been around for a while but till now, it was women exuding uber cool in men’s shirts with ties and tuxedos. 
    The fashion changed at the start of the year and brands such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Alexander McQueen, YSL, John Galliano, Number (N)ine and Yohji Yamamoto began to offer designs ranging from long skirts to skorts (skirtlike shorts). 
    Back in 2003, Rohit Bal sent male models out on to the catwalk in swishing skirts and sindoor but girlfriend fashion is not quite so obvious. Instead, designers are making subtle changes to colours, textures and cuts to introduce an understated femininity. 
    For his new season, designer Ashish Soni is “highlighting jackets with shorter length, lapels going thinner, classic bandhgalas with satin and velvet trimmings, teamed with slim and slender pants for men”. 
    Soni says he is using unconventional colours such as prune and burgundy in luxurious fabrics such as silk. But he insists that “as a men’s designer, I don’t prefer men carrying sissy stuff, but this season I do recommend accessorizing with interesting colours, even if they are in your socks!” 
    Stylist Smriti Mukerji says she has seen men in girlfriend fashion for a while. “Though it is still restricted to a certain strata of people, the silhouette of men has been changing for a while.” 
    Marc Jacobs, creative director at Louis Vuitton, is thought to have set the trend. His skirts are worn with such elegance that even women envy him. He recently went a step further by pairing a man’s skirt with Stephen Sprouse graffiti tights. 
    Girlfriend fashion may not be the in-thing for every man, but it is finding a surprising number of takers among men who want to stand out isn a crowd or express their individuality. 
    But the best, unstated advantage of genderless clothing is that in these hard times, the harried shopper can be sold the idea of a couple sharing a wardrobe and getting twice the value from each outfit. 
    sunday.times@timesgroup.com 

NO SKIRTING THE ISSUE HERE: (clockwise from le

Let’s do our bit, urges Akshay

Each one of us has to do our bit to safeguard our environment. That’s Khiladi No. 1 Akshay Kumar’s firm belief. Recently while hanging out with his new friends from Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi, the show on Colors, Akshay had a serious conversation on environmental issues. It so happened that Gurmeet, the Punjab da munda from Chandigarh, 
shared his worries about pollution and global warming with Akki. He went on to talk of how he’s tried to tackle the issue in whichever little way he could, by planting trees and cycling to short distances instead of taking a car. Akshay was very impressed and that’s what he does to conserve energy. He rides a cycle wherever possible and encourages people in his house to use it for shorter distances as well. 

ECO FRIENDLY: Gurmeet and Akshay Kumar

Technology puts best foot forward at fashion week

New York: The internet and advances in technology are transforming fashion, making it easier for designers to create collections and less expensive for them to show and sell their work, experts say.
Instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars on a runway show at New York Fashion Week, some designers presented collections for spring and summer 2010 online, while others are expanding the reach of their brand by making it easier for shoppers to buy their clothes online.
Designer Norma Kamali and Polo Ralph Lauren Corp’s Rugby brand both have applications for Apple Inc’s iPhone that allows shoppers to buy clothes from their phone.
“This is the technology that’s changing our lives,” said Kamali, who displayed her spring and summer 2010 collection as well as exclusive lines for eBay Inc and Walmart.com at the Apple store in Manhattan’s Soho neighbourhood.
Kamali’s iPhone application has a “Try Before You Buy” option, which allows clothes to be sent overnight to a customer, who provides her credit card information, so she can try them on at home before committing to buy.
Menswear designer Miguel Antoinne and womenswear designer Marc Bouwer both put on virtual fashion shows, while models at Vivienne Tam’s show carried gold “digital clutches”—a Hewlett-Packard Co netbook adorned with a Tam design.
Mazdack Rassi, co-founder and creative director of Milk Studios, a hip downtown space that showed about 70 collections during New York Fashion Week, said he hopes to broaden the reach of Fashion Week and was considering projecting shows on the side of a building so people at a nearby park could watch.
“It goes back to opening it up to the consumer,” Rassi said during a panel discussion on the future of fashion. “That can only be done through technology.” REUTERS

IN THING: Instead of spending on a runway show, designers have begun presenting their collections online

A DASH OF COLOUR

With over two decades of experience in the garment industry, ColorPlus has come to mean luxury, style and elegance. The brand, which was established in the year 1993, has now come under the wing of the 80-yearold Raymond Group, a front-runner in the fashion and apparel industry. After storming the market with an idea to promote luxe cottons, in an era that was ruled by synthetic fabrics, the brand has to its credit, the novelty of introducing a series of firsts in the market.
Their line of wrinkle-free clothing and lightweight chinos have set the standard for superiority, in an otherwise dull, drab and staid consumer market; thus making ColorPlus a front runner in innovative fashion. Primarily established as a menswear brand, their vision has come to include a premiere woman’s wear range as well as a kids range. While the woman’s range offers sophisticated yet glamourous western wear for the multi-faceted woman of today, the kids range offers a fun and preppy range that 
is sure to delight the style sensibilities of youngsters today.
After a series of distinctions, the fashion forward brand now brings to you, the Autumn-Winter ’09 collection, which brings world fashion to a store near you. The line, which is heavily inspired by the works of the famous artist Charles Rennie Macintosh, shows a stunning collection of paisley inspired motifs, apart from Scottish plaids, strong monotones of black and white and their world famous linens.
The collection uses a burst of colours in shades like brick, purple, blues and black, apart from rich jewelled tones like crimson, jade and sapphire, which add sparkle and shine to the festive season. Do not forget to check out the range inspired by Scottish clans, which comprises tartans, checks, plaids and regimental stripes. The garments can be worn as separates, or mixed and matched to create an uber cool, sophisticated look. If optical illusion is what you desire, then what better way to step out in style, than by donning an ensemble from the Black and White collection? The revolutionary line boasts of breathtaking prints, jacquards, dobbies, 
knits, linens and other blends in simple cuts and clean lines. There is also a range of prints in black and white with an effect of optical illusion inspired by the famous Vasarelli.
With neutral palettes that suit every occasion, stylish cuts and superior fabrics, ColorPlus is the first name in fashion. What are you waiting for? Go ahead and shop in style!
For details, contact: 18004191100 or customercarecell@colorplus.in and log on to www.colorplusonline.com.

Police corruption

THERE is no shortage of fraudsters in Pakistan. Yet when such individuals claim to represent the police or intelligence agencies, the implications of their deceit can be far-reaching. It is therefore vital that the state make concerted efforts to track down and put these people out of business. As was reported by this newspaper, three impostors were arrested in Islamabad after it was discovered that a man paid them Rs9mn to secure two appointment letters for posts in the police department. The man wanted the letters for himself and his cousin for the post of assistant superintendent of police. The phoney documents bore the signatures and stamps of top police officials as well as senior bureaucrats. One of the alleged conmen had reportedly claimed that he was the country head of Interpol as well as the director of an intelligence agency; he had `service cards` of these organisations to prove it. The scam was uncovered after the victims applied to the police department, only to be told that the appointment letters were fakes. 

The incident highlights the fact that there are black sheep in government departments — especially the police — who buy and sell jobs. Rs9mn is an astonishing price for two ASP posts, which indicates the ease with which crooked individuals can rake it in, once they have been hired as policemen. A probe is required in order to ascertain how the suspects got hold of the stamps and whether or not the stamps are genuine. This case also raises the bigger picture: there is a need for a thorough cleansing of the police department to weed out individuals who give the force a bad name, either by indulging in corrupt practices or by aiding and abetting scammers. The authorities need to crack down on those who abuse for personal gain their positions as public servan

Pak scientists offered bin Laden N-weapons before 9/11: Book

New Delhi: Barely a month before the 9/11 terror attacks, two Pakistani nuclear scientists, said to be close to the disgraced Abdul Qadeer Khan, met up with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and offered to supply atomic weapons to him, a newly released book has said. 
   Chaudiri Abdul Majeed and Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, who held a series of senior posts in Pakistani nuke programme, went to the Taliban headquarters in Kandahar in mid-August 2001 and spent three days with Laden who was keen to acquire weapons of mass destruction, the book says. 
   M a h m o o d was said to be more close to Khan, the “father of the Islamic bomb” and the mastermind behind a vast clandestine enterprise that soldnuclear secrets to rogue states like Iran, North Korea and Libya. He also set up the pilot plant for Pakistan’s uranium-enrichment programme. 
   However, the so-called deal did not materialise as the meeting between the Pakistani nuclear scientists and Laden ended inconclusively after the Qaida leader, along with some of his senior associates, abruptly left for the mountains of northwestern Afghanistan. 
   According to the book, The Man From Pakistan—The True Story of the World’s Most Dangerous Nuclear Smuggler—before leaving, bin Laden had told his followers that “something great was going to happen”. A couple of weeks later, 9/11 happened. 
   The book is authored by journalists Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins.