"It was 60,000 watts of electricity," commented Pradeep Hirani of swish Mumbai fashion outlet Kimaaya. "The show was so imaginative and the music was excellent. It was so full of composition. It was so lively that was the full experience of a circus," said French ambassador Jerome Bonnafont. The comment couldn't have been more apt - because the collection was titled "Circus".

As for Arora, he was self-effacing. "I just wanted a good show and a good finale. I wanted to do it my way," the designer said. Arora's line also had short dresses, mini skirts, trousers and dresses as well as pieces largely inspired from circus costumes including bra tops, multiple bows and jump suits.

Elaborating on his collection, Arora said: "I feel that a circus is a part of everybody's life. The way we live our life these days is like a circus - entertaining and hilarious." The collection explored innovative techniques of embroidery like hand-sewn appliqu, digitally printed sequin and traditional Indian gota embroidery that gelled well with his signature style.

Since Arora's show was the grand finale, his collection will also be retailed from Wills Lifestyle stores across the country.

Buyers show keen interest

A good number of serious buyers, both international and domestic, were present at the fashion show. These included Vittorio Radice of La Rinascente of Italy; Ms. Kwan Chung of Villa Moda at Kuwait; Ms. Tomoko Inuzuka of Beams, Tokyo; Ahmed Hashim and Mrs. Samira Raouaha of Harvey Nichols from Riyadh; Ms. Jessica Steffanizi, Ms. Nicole Rohe all of Anthropologie, USA; Ms. Tamara De Peon, Ms. Meenal Jethi and James Watson from Liberty, London; Ms. Pat Liew of British India from Kuala Lumpur; Martin Hadid of L'eclaireur of Paris; Katya and Mahipat Singh from Viva, Russia and Ms. Yamagishi of Sun Motoyama from Japan, besides Erika Harm from Harmony Fashion in the Netherlands.

There were an equally good number of domestic buyers, representing Ensemble, Aza, Kimaya, Samsara, Elahe, Evoluzione, Bombay Electric, Carma, Ogaan, Amarraa and Fuel.

In the course of discussion Erika said she is very positive about Indian fashion. When asked as to which designers show she has seen and how it was, she said that she had seen Ranna Gill and it was mind blowing. She said, she is opening a boutique in the Netherlands and is therefore a prospective buyer. She plans to rope in designers for her boutique and Ranna Gill is definitely on the list. She disclosed that her present visit was the second one, but she did not find anything different. She also complained that there are two venues (of two different fashion weeks) and it is indeed difficult to shuttle between two far-flung areas. She wished that all the designers should have been at the same place. She also informed that the prices of designer wear were really high and these would be further higher in Europe after all others like her travel expenses, retailer's cost and transportation costs etc. are added up. When asked about the demand for Indian fashion products in the Netherlands, she said there is no demand for India fashion in her country, as nobody knows about it. She was, however, hopeful that if she markets Indian fashion well, demand will soon be created.