Mumbai, March 16 – No big names from Bollywood appeared on the ramp at the just-concluded Lakme Fashion Week (LFW). Rather, second-rung acctors like Yuvika Chaudhury and Randeep Hooda were picked by the desingers as showstoppers and it provided them an ideal platform to promote themselves.

Designer Sabah Khan had Yuvika as the showstopper for “Tuk Tuk On Linen” her collection.

Primarily known for playing Dolly in Shah Rukh Khan starrer “Om Shanti Om”, Yuvika has also been part of films like “Summer 2007″ and “Toh Baat Pakki”. She will now be seen in upcoming Govinda-starrer “Naughty @40″.

“I have just graduated from INIFD (Inter National Institute of Fashion Design) so, from an emerging designer’s point of view, I don’t have the contacts and the backing where I can afford to give grand fees to a big star to be my showstopper. Yuvika is a very dear friend and fits in very well, so I decided on her,” said the 21-year-old Sabah, giving her reasons for going with the actress.

Apart from Yuvika, others that garnered publicity at the event were Randeep Hooda, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Perizad Zorabian, Geeta Basra and Riya Sen.

While Randeep walked for designer Rajat K. Tangri, Aditya was the showstopper for Debarun and Geeta strutted the ramp for Parvesh and Jai’s creation.

Although these actors are yet to make a niche for themselves in the Hindi film industry, they are going all out to be in news by walking the shows.

“I think it’s a good platform for these actors to show their presence. The designer also gets some mileage as well as the actors. Even though they are not stars, they still manage to get in some crowd, so I think its good,” said a guest on condition of anonymity.

Riya, who has done couple of films and walked for designer Arpan Vohra, is still not in the star bracket, but she did make shutterbugs flutter owing to thin Bollywood presence in LFW this time around.

The only bigger celebrities to walk the ramp were Dia Mirza and Zayed Khan for Rock S and Kunal Kapoor for the brand Energie.

But yes, big names were seen in the guest corridor – Kareena Kapoor, Imtiaz Ali, Sonali Bendre, Shamita Shetty, Minnisha Lamba and Poonam Dhillon among others came to support their favourite designers.

This could also be the result of a debate among designers whether celebrities should be a part of fashion shows or not? While some call is ideal, others feel otherwise.

Prêt wear designer Priyadarshini Rao said: “I don’t get celebrity showstoppers for my show because I feel that takes away the attention from the garments. People only see the celebrity and only talk about them while the clothes are sidelined. The purpose of a show is to showcase a collection, so I feel the entire attention should be on that and not a celebrity.”

But designer Gauri Karan has a different opinion.

“I wouldn’t say it’s important, but if it’s something that goes with your brand then why not? Fashion goes hand in hand with cinema. Designers are always associated with actresses and it’s a nice association because you are kind of helping each other,” Gauri told IANS.

“All over the country, people aspire to dress like our actresses and for designers that’s very nice because if an actress wears your outfit, you instantly get a lot visibility. On the other hand, the actress gets styled in a nice way so it works both ways,” she added.

No big Bollywood stars shone on LFW ramp

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