Rohit Bal show at the Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2012 Finale

It was a Grand Finale that an audience can only dream of and hope it turns into a reality.

The invitees walked down the garden path of the Grand Hyatt linedwith sweet smelling mogras and hundreds of candles, through fragrant flowers and trees, onto the venue to witness one of the most glamorous events of the year.

The Grand Finale presented by Rohit Bal, designer par excellence and the ultimate Master of Craft and Creative Design, was a mind blowing collection inspired by Lakmé Absolute Fast & Fabulous woman to end the Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2012.

The only words that can summarize the event were magnificent, opulent,glamour, design and absolute beauty. Akin to Rohit Bal’s inimitable style, Lakmé for the first time hosted the Grand Finale at the lawns of the GrandHyatt. Pristine ivory pillars served as a backdrop for stunning models that walked down the ramp in mesmerizing creations in a selection of elegant fabrics, colours and silhouettes.Five carved white cones lined the ramp while numerous hung from the branches of the trees surrounding the lawns.

Lakmé has constantly evolved to keep pace with the ever changing Indian woman and presented to her an everlasting beauty experience through a unique collection of colour cosmetics. True to its legacy, Lakmé launched its Fast & Fabulous collection of 30 fashion forward nail colours that speed dry in 40 seconds.With the exciting range of wicked colours and vivid tones women can now choose to refresh their nails daily to match their mood, occasion or their outfit. Th eFast & Fabulous nail paints come with a unique flat brush that glides effortlessly over the nails and gives an immaculate finish in one stroke.

The show opened with Silver Strings - a spirited trio of beautiful ladies, who enthralled the audience with their virtuosity on the violins. As the lights came on, the five conesrose to reveal statuesque models in diaphanous creations, while the melodious music of the live orchestra above the stage provided haunting melodies during the show.

The collection called “Kaarigari” featured the classic cuts and intricate designsby Rohit Bal that represented the modern Indian woman who stands true to herroots yet lives an international lifestyle and looks glamorous every day.

It was a line of clothing that defied imagination; since its craftsmanship was so unbelievable they appeared to descend straight from heaven. Amazing designs with cord and cutwork revealed a line of long floor hugging full flared creations with stunning embroidery and overlapping appliquéd circles.

Starting with ivory, Rohit moved to darker shades of beige and brown and then on to muted hues like maroon, wine, cobalt, red, purple and showered the long luxurious coats, capes, kalidaar kurtas, shrugs and gowns with crystal, resham and zari embroidery. The motifs ranged from swirling birdsto peacocks and geometric designs; while the knitted and woven creations came seamlessly together some with thread manipulation to form a full garment. Each ensemble was a poem in fabrics. Men’s wear followed the look of the show with rich jackets, sherwanis and bundhgala coats.

The finale had the beautiful super model, Sheetal Mallar in a gorgeous sari with a peacock embroidered border and a black velvet embellished coat.

As the Orchestra played the theme from the “Black Swan”, the models took their bow in identical full circle multi tiered floor kissing cotton kurtas - a Rohit Bal’s signature style- in shades of ivory, beige, grey and black.

As India’s top couturier, Rohit Bal took his bow to a wildly applauding audience, showers of white confetti came down on one of the most spectacular and memorable Grand Finales ever witnessed in India, presented at Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2012 for Lakmé Absolute Fast & Fabulous.