DAY TWO: WHAT, WHEN & WEAR
Prasad Bidapa, John Abraham & David Whitbread

Last Fashion Week, Kiran Uttam Ghosh was one of the few who showed prêt properly. She did fusion for day and evening, flowing separates in unadorned fabrics. Great hanger appeal in a mithai palette - pista burfi, badam halwa, rosagulla pink - doing well in that grey area between mass market and high-end.

Today, Kiran did Fortuny pleats for women of a certain age or shape. Speaking of which, some of the models seemed to have been fattened up for the ramp and were about as wide. Good for ramps, not rumps. The boys showed her saris well, after wearing chaniya-cholis yesterday. Is this the future of men's wear? Quelle drag.

Rahul Khanna & Rohit Gandhi: Cue Sheet
Cue glistened libidinously with leather and suede and heaved with influences. There was Gucci, there was Guess, there was Dolly Parton, there was Donatella and there were those Native Americans who live in a hole in the ground just outside New Mexico doing clever things with turquoise. There was faux leather in brown, brown and brown, with tobacco for variety.

No denying Cue's mastery, working in leather isn't easy. The girl's shoes were delectable, but the boys would've been better barefoot: what they wore looked like the cement blocks the Mafia puts your feet in before heaving you into the Hudson.

Rocky S: Mr Congeniality
The sudden rush of presspeople down the ramp when Becker arrived at Rocky S had people thinking the show had started or that Gudda had arrived 24 hours early. (Separated at birth: Boris and Bal?)

Rocky S is, of course, designer to Bollywood where it's all about loving your jeans. And you always hurt the one you love: bleach, fade, paint, burn, fray, acid- and frost-wash, overdye, embellish, pierce. Shirts were ripped, torn, tattered, frayed (again). Fit was second skin, especially the women's: like Bangkok's ladyboys? The men's shapes too were flattering, bootcut, but not the boots: Peshawaris with jeans are a trifle jhola. The women's footwear, on the other hand, looked set to club till dawn. It's easy to see why Rocky S. is considered glam and beyond, for women certainly.

Aparna Chandra: Speedpost Modern
Occidental-Oriental, Victorian for one, Chinese for the other, Aparna showed voluptuous and highly stylised, almost theatrical, women's clothes. The corset brought back the waist and emphasised opulently full skirts, while transparency teased. Vests were worn tight inside and over shirts and blouses - Victorian repressiveness laced in place.

The obi in ang-pao dragon red was another metaphor for closed societies: as were the skin-tight cheongsams. Net petticoats flirted under more full skirts, but when worn on top became costumes for the school play. In Victoriana, net was for keeping mosquitoes away from the family fourposter and certainly not for dressing. Still, Aparna is a serious designer whose assurance is total.

Puja Nayyar: A Touch Of Class Monitor
It's currently fashionable for London's fast set to club in school uniforms and be girlish, or boyish, as inclined, and for Puja there were lessons there to be taught. Models danced and preened a tad self-consciously, but there were essays in deconstruction, with elements juxtaposed in unexpected ways.

Skirts were piled over each other, and pinafores, aprons, the inevitable jeans, and other sundries were jigsawed in. Key details were: the tie as belt, T-shirt back to front, small floral bag for the class sissy. Difficult to teach without a bit of out-of-school tutoring. But high marks for the curriculum.

Last note on these two designers: Mud-coloured lips? No, no, Jojo. And show length? Shouldn't compete with skirt length.