Ash winks, blows kisses at hubby at Couture Week opening

MUMBAI - When actress Aishwarya Rai walked the ramp after many years as the showstopper for designer Manish Malhotra at the HDIL-India Couture Week (HDIL-ICW) opening show, the first thing she did was to give a naughty wink to husband Abhishek Bachchan and blow flying kisses too!

The couture week began Wednesday and will see eight designers showcase their collections till Oct 10.

Looking stunning in a white voluminous lehenga with heavy high eye makeup, Aishwarya walked with ease and made sure she made her man feel special by constantly gazing at him and blowing kisses from the ramp.

After the show, the two hugged each other and looked like a couple very much in love, especially with junior Bachchan praising her ramp walk and the former beauty queen accepting the compliments with warm smiles and a strong eye contact.

“Even I don’t remember the last time I walked the ramp for a fashion show. I don’t think I have ever walked during a fashion week. But, yes, it was long overdue for Manish,” Aishwarya said after the show.

Though the audience would have loved to see the couple walk the ramp together, Aishwarya justified his absence saying they didn’t want to keep Manish hanging as Abhishek was busy with shooting and could have got stuck with work.

Manish has been trying to get me on the ramp for quite a long time now, but I have been keeping so busy that I couldn’t even watch any of his previous shows, forget about walking. But this time, things just fell into place, she said.

Accompanying Abhishek was his mother Jaya, who too cheered for her daughter-in-law with equal enthusiasm. Besides them, actresses Sonam Kapoor, Urmila Matondkar, Riya Sen, Sophie Chaudhary and director Imtiaz Ali also dazzled in the guest gallery to cheer for Manish, their favourite designer.

It was not just Bollywood presence that ruled the show, Manish’s couture collection and the presentation too cast a spell on guests.

The main show area was decorated like a wedding ‘mandap’ with candles and marigold flowers everywhere.

His collection included long anarkalis, voluminous lehengas, dhotis, plazos teamed with long kurtas and saris with velvet boarders and the designer used a riot of colours from beige to off-white to red, pink, purple and myriad hues of green. He offered designs for both men and women.